YAOUNDE, June 11 (Xinhua) -- The death toll from an attack by terror group Boko Haram in Darak, a town in Cameroon's Far North region bordering Lake Chad, rose to 37, military sources said Tuesday.
"We now know that 21 soldiers and 16 civilians were killed in the attack. We arrested some 15 Boko Haram militants and neutralized some. We are still searching for some missing civilians and soldiers," a military officer, who asked not to be named, told Xinhua.
According to local authorities, Boko Haram attacked the town on Sunday night and clashed with the Cameroonian army until Monday afternoon.
"They were shooting indiscriminately, killing civilians in the process. Some of those shot fell into Lake Chad and the bodies were retrieved after," the officer added.
"If they (terrorists) had come during peak hours, today would be a disaster. They even broke into the military camp, then left with weapons and equipment," Alifa Adoum, a resident of Darak, told Xinhua Tuesday morning. He lost his brother in Boko Haram's attack.
On Tuesday, the region's governor Midjiyawa Bakari said "life was returning to normal" in the region after the attack and stressed that the civilians and soldiers "must remain vigilant."
"Boko Haram can fall upon us at any moment," Darak mayor Ali Ramat told Xinhua Tuesday morning. He called for military reinforcement and a change of strategy of the army fighting the terror group.
The attack is the bloodiest in the region since the start of this year.
