Carnage as Boko Haram booted from Nigeria town
YAOUNDE, Cameroon -- Cameroon's government says its soldiers have retaken Nigeria's northeastern town of Goshi from Boko Haram, killing 162 militants in a weekend operation.
Communications minister Issa Tchiroma Bakary said late Monday that Cameroon special forces also freed about 100 people being held by the extremists, including Cameroonians and Nigerians. He said two members of Cameroon's military were killed.
Bakary said the operation from Feb. 11 to Feb. 14 destroyed several bomb factories and two training centers in the former Boko Haram stronghold, and soldiers seized vehicles, weapons and ammunition.
Amnesty International says Nigerian-based Boko Haram has killed more than 20,000 people in its six-year insurgency.
Boko Haram swore allegiance to Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi last year, calling itself the "West Africa Province" of ISIS' self-declared Islamic caliphate.
In November, a study by the Global Terrorism Index said Boko Haram had actually surpassed ISIS to become the world's deadliest terror group.
The report said the number of deaths blamed on Boko Haram had increased by 317 percent in 2014 to 6,644, compared to 6,073 blamed on ISIS.