Cameroon army stuns Boko Haram

- Kill at least 100 terrorists and frees over 900 hostages

The Cameroon army claimed Wednesday to have dealt a major blow to Nigeria's Boko Haram Islamists, killing at least 100 fighters and freeing over 900 hostages in a three-day operation last week.

The claim, which could not be independently confirmed, came on the heels of twin suicide attacks by Boko Haram kamikaze in the town of Waza in the far north of Cameroon. Nine people including three suicide attackers reportedly died in the attacks, according to Cameroon government spokesman IssaTchiroma.

                "A special clean-up operation from November 26 to 28 against Boko Haram in the border area with Nigeria neutralised more than 100 jihadists", IssaTchiroma told a press conference in Yaounde.

                Cameroon’s Defence Minister Joseph BetiAssomo also later confirmed the toll in a separate statement broadcast on national radio.

                The surprise attack by Cameroonian forces enabled them to release almost 900 hostages, seize large supplies of arms and munitions as well as black-and-white Islamic State IS flags, the statements by both officials said, without providing details on the identities of those freed.

Worthy to recall that Boko Haram swore allegiance to IS in March 2015.

                The ministers attributed the success of the raid to cooperation between Cameroon security forces, the multinational task force against Boko Haram based in Mora, Cameroon and Nigerian forces.

                No independent confirmation of the government press outing was immediately available from the battle front, which is inaccessible to the media.

                Some security sources reached by telephone confirmed that the raid took place but were unable to confirm the figures released in the government statement.

Nine dead in suicide attacks in Waza

                Since July, Cameroon's far northern region has been regularly targeted by suicide bombers believed to be working with Boko Haram.

                Late on Tuesday, nine people were reportedly killed in twin suicide attacks in the small and once popular tourist town of Waza, said a security source who asked not to be identified.

                The victims included civilian vigilantes trained by the community to guard Waza against attacks, the source said.

State radio confirmed the attacks, saying the two suicide bombers were women who killed four people when they blew themselves up. A further two people died of their injuries.

                A third suicide bomber was shot dead before detonating her explosive.

                The attacks were the first of the kind in Waza, a town on the edge of a national park teeming with lions, elephants and other wildlife that used to draw tourists but which has been abandoned by foreign visitors since the region bordering Nigeria and Chad became a target for the extremists.

                Attacks have been blamed on radical Sunni jihadist group, Boko Haram, which is seeking to create a hardline Islamic state in northeast Nigeria.

                Over the past year Boko Haram has stepped up cross-border attacks in Niger, Chad and Cameroon while also continuing to mount shooting and suicide assaults on markets, mosques and other mostly civilian targets within Nigeria itself.

                For many years there was little to no surveillance of the border with Nigeria by Cameroon, enabling the jihadists to use the remote region as a rear base to stock its weapons, vehicles and supplies.

But Cameroon, which is part of a regional coalition helping Nigeria combat the jihadists, now has stepped up border surveillance.