Cameroon said its troops had rescued 5,000 civilian "hostages" held by Boko Haram Islamists in a cross-border operation that left scores of jehadists dead.
Cameroonian troops carried out "a vast operation all along the Cameroon-Nigeria border and in Nigeria" from February 27 to March 7, Government spokesman Issa Tchiroma Bakary said in a statement seen by AFP Wednesday.
The operation, dubbed Thunder 2, "led to the liberation of more than 5,000 people taken hostage by the terrorists", he said, referring to Boko Haram.