According to reports, the quest of the Cameroonian soldiers to end insurgency is currently getting ugly as it has recorded civilian casualties across the borders.
Cameroonian troops pursuing Boko Haram fired rocket-propelled grenades indiscriminately that killed a family of four, then shot and killed two other civilians, trapped Nigerian villagers told the Associated Press on Tuesday.
It's the latest of several reports accusing the military of Cameroon of killing scores of Nigerian civilians and razing villages in an apparent attempt to create a no-go zone along the border. Cameroon's government has denied previous similar charges, which come amid rising tensions between Nigeria and its neighbours over the Islamic uprising that has spilled over Nigeria's borders.
Muhammad Abba, deputy commander of a civilian self-defence group, said relatives telephoned him, on Tuesday, to describe how one grenade exploded through the grass roof of a hut and killed a family of four in the northeastern village Ashigashiya on Monday.
Then Cameroonian soldiers dragged away two elderly men and shot them on the outskirts of the village, Abba said. He said villagers had been trapped for weeks between Cameroonian troops and an area where Boko Haram is operating.
There was no way to independently verify his report. The first such story came from refugees who said Cameroonian soldiers on November 30 killed about 150 people, stole livestock and set huts ablaze along a 150-kilometre (95-mile) stretch of the border. Hundreds of refugees have arrived with similar reports.
Nigerian government officials have not responded to requests for comment, instead warning local press to be "patriotic." Cameroon said its troops were deployed with Nigerian soldiers in the fight against Boko Haram.