Officials in Cameroon say Boko Haram militants have abducted at least 60 people in a cross-border raid from Nigeria.

Government spokesman Issa Tchiroma says three people were killed and 80 homes destroyed in Sunday’s raid, which targeted villages in Cameroon’s Far North Region.

The Reuters news agency cites a senior army officer as saying the majority of those kidnapped are children between 10 and 15.

The raid came a day after Chad sent thousands of troops into Cameroon to help fight Boko Haram, which has been seizing territory along the Nigerian-Cameroonian border and recently took control of a military base near the shores of Lake Chad.

Cameroon’s military says the soldiers will be deployed to the north, in the war zone on the Nigerian border.

Bus station bomb kills 4

Meanwhile, a suicide bomber has killed at least four people and wounded at least 25 others in the northern Nigerian city of Potiskum.

Local police say the bomber detonated a car filled with explosives at a bus station early Sunday.  There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but suspicion fell on Boko Haram, which often targets bus stations and other public gathering spots.

The unrest in the north has become a central issue in Nigeria’s presidential election, set for February 14.  Many Nigerians feel incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan has done too little to stop the militants, while some analysts question whether polls can be held at all in the northeastern states where Boko Haram is active.

 
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