Cameroon says regional forces free 5,000 Boko Haram captives

By Sylvain Andzongo YAOUNDE (Reuters) - Regional West African forces freed 5,000 captives from a Boko Haram base in a more than week-long operation that also completely destroyed the militants' hideout in mountains along the Nigeria-Cameroon border, Cameroon said Wednesday. The "hostages freed consisted mostly of women, children and elderly people," Communications Minister Issa Tchiroma Bakary told a news conference. Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram has been fighting since 2009 to try to establish a medieval Islamic caliphate in the Lake Chad region, where Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger and Chad join.A coordinated push by the militaries of these four nations dismantled much of the territory Boko Haram once held, but it remains capable of launching lethal attacks, often targeting the civilian population.
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