Cameroon Kidnapping

Armed men attacked a Greek oil tanker near Cameroon's economic capital Douala on Tuesday and abducted eight men including the vessel's Greek captain, the merchant marine ministry said.

Pirates have kidnapped eight crew members of a German-owned ship in a raid on the vessel off the coast of Cameroon, the Hamburg-based company that owns the ship said on Friday.

Seventy-nine school pupils abducted by gunmen this week in a troubled English-speaking region of Cameroon have been freed, the country's communications minister told news agency AFP Wednesday.

All 79 children and a driver kidnapped in west Cameroon were free on Wednesday, but a principal and one teacher are still being held by the armed men that took them, a priest conducting negotiations said.

More than 80 people, mostly children, were kidnapped from a school in the city of Bamenda in western Cameroon early on Monday, government and military sources said.

Boko Haram militants kidnapped 135 people and killed at least eight others in a raid in northern Cameroon, as the Islamists continued to strike beyond their strongholds in neighbouring Nigeria, police and local sources said on Wednesday.

At least eight people were killed and about 100 others were kidnapped by suspected Boko Haram militants in an overnight raid on a village near Cameroon's northern border, a local government and a military source said.

Suspected members of Boko Haram kidnapped 20 people from a bus in northern Cameroon, then executed 12 of them, a security source and resident said Monday.

Cameroon's army has freed 24 of some 80 hostages kidnapped during a cross-border attack by suspected Boko Haram Islamist fighters based in neighbouring Nigeria, a defence ministry spokesman said on Monday.

Suspected Boko Haram Islamist fighters from Nigeria kidnapped around 80 people, many of them children, and killed three others on Sunday in a cross-border attack on villages in northern Cameroon, army and government officials said.

Chad said it believed Nigeria's secret deal with Boko Haram Islamists to free over 200 kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls would go ahead despite the breakdown of a truce, and revealed the key to the agreement was a prisoner swap.

Nigeria on Friday claimed to have reached a deal with Boko Haram militants on a ceasefire and the release of more than 200 kidnapped schoolgirls but doubts immediately surrounded the purported breakthrough.

Nigerian authorities say the Boko Haram militant group kidnapped 100 people, and most were freed by security forces from neighboring Cameroon.

Nigerian Boko Haram militants kidnapped the wife of Cameroon's vice prime minister and killed at least three people on Sunday in a cross-border attack involving more than 200 assailants in the northern town of Kolofata, Cameroon officials said.

Here is a snapshot of developments since the kidnapping in northeastern Nigeria two months ago of more than 200 schoolgirls by the Islamist group Boko Haram.

Armed men attacked a Greek oil tanker near Cameroon's economic capital Douala on Tuesday and abducted eight men including the vessel's Greek captain, the merchant marine ministry said.

Pirates have kidnapped eight crew members of a German-owned ship in a raid on the vessel off the coast of Cameroon, the Hamburg-based company that owns the ship said on Friday.

Seventy-nine school pupils abducted by gunmen this week in a troubled English-speaking region of Cameroon have been freed, the country's communications minister told news agency AFP Wednesday.

All 79 children and a driver kidnapped in west Cameroon were free on Wednesday, but a principal and one teacher are still being held by the armed men that took them, a priest conducting negotiations said.

More than 80 people, mostly children, were kidnapped from a school in the city of Bamenda in western Cameroon early on Monday, government and military sources said.

Boko Haram militants kidnapped 135 people and killed at least eight others in a raid in northern Cameroon, as the Islamists continued to strike beyond their strongholds in neighbouring Nigeria, police and local sources said on Wednesday.

At least eight people were killed and about 100 others were kidnapped by suspected Boko Haram militants in an overnight raid on a village near Cameroon's northern border, a local government and a military source said.

Suspected members of Boko Haram kidnapped 20 people from a bus in northern Cameroon, then executed 12 of them, a security source and resident said Monday.

Cameroon's army has freed 24 of some 80 hostages kidnapped during a cross-border attack by suspected Boko Haram Islamist fighters based in neighbouring Nigeria, a defence ministry spokesman said on Monday.

Suspected Boko Haram Islamist fighters from Nigeria kidnapped around 80 people, many of them children, and killed three others on Sunday in a cross-border attack on villages in northern Cameroon, army and government officials said.

Chad said it believed Nigeria's secret deal with Boko Haram Islamists to free over 200 kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls would go ahead despite the breakdown of a truce, and revealed the key to the agreement was a prisoner swap.

Nigeria on Friday claimed to have reached a deal with Boko Haram militants on a ceasefire and the release of more than 200 kidnapped schoolgirls but doubts immediately surrounded the purported breakthrough.

Nigerian authorities say the Boko Haram militant group kidnapped 100 people, and most were freed by security forces from neighboring Cameroon.

Nigerian Boko Haram militants kidnapped the wife of Cameroon's vice prime minister and killed at least three people on Sunday in a cross-border attack involving more than 200 assailants in the northern town of Kolofata, Cameroon officials said.

Here is a snapshot of developments since the kidnapping in northeastern Nigeria two months ago of more than 200 schoolgirls by the Islamist group Boko Haram.