US to Send 300 Troops to Cameroon
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - The United States is sending 300 troops, along with surveillance drones, to Cameroon to bolster a West African effort to counter the Nigerian militant group Boko Haram.
In a notification to Congress, US President Barack Obama said an advance force of about 90 military personnel began deploying on Monday to Cameroon, with the consent of the Yaounde government, Reuters reported.
The troops will “conduct airborne intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance operations in the region,” Obama said.
“These forces are equipped with weapons for the purpose of providing their own force protection and security, and they will remain in Cameroon until their support is no longer needed.”
Boko Haram, which has allied itself to the ISIL terrorist group, earlier this year stepped up cross-border attacks on Nigeria’s neighbors.
On Sunday, two female suicide bombers killed nine people in the town of Mora in Cameroon’s Far North region, employing a tactic increasingly favored by Boko Haram.
The White House said the move was not in response to any changed assessment of threat in the region.