17 March 2016•Update: 28 March 2016
MAROUA, Cameroon
A military court in Cameroon’s Far North Region has sentenced 89 Boko Haram militants to death, judicial sources said.
"The court sentenced 89 Boko Haram militants on March 16," a judge told Anadolu Agency on condition of anonymity.
The judge added that the militants were arrested in Cameroon’s Far North Region and "the verdict was final.”
"Nearly a 1,000 Boko Haram suspects are still awaiting trial," the source said.
Security officials welcomed the court decision. "We have been waiting for this decision for a long time now," a brigade commander told Anadolu Agency.
Last August, Chad executed ten Boko Haram members after they were convicted of involvement in twin suicide bomb attacks in the capital N'djamena that killed at least 28 people -- including large numbers of army personnel and four Boko Haram militants.
Since the beginning of the year, more than 15 suicide bombings have been carried out in Cameroon, according to Communication Minister Issa Tchiroma Bakary, while more than 1,100 civilians and security force members have been killed in attacks attributed to Boko Haram in the Far North since 2013.
Cameroon has reinforced its military presence along its border with Nigeria, trying to repel the Nigerian militant group with the help of local population.
Cameroon is part of a Multinational Joint Task Force that was created by Lake Chad Basin countries -- Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Cameroon and Benin -- aimed at eradicating the militant group.
