said defence ministry spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Didier Badjeck.
Militants ambushed a column of army vehicles using an
improvised explosive device and then hundreds attacked in the region of
Amchide, 65 km (40 miles) north of Maroua, at around 10.30 a.m. local
time (0930 GMT).
"The response of our forces was swift and appropriate. The attack was
repulsed and the attackers neutralised," Badjeck said on Thursday,
adding that 116 militants died. One soldier was killed and at least two
vehicles lost.
Boko Haram has killed hundreds of people this year, mostly in
northeastern Nigeria, as it continues a campaign for an Islamist state.
Most of the killings have been in northeastern Nigeria,
but the group has attacked other cities and stepped up cross-border
incursions into Cameroon, prompting Cameroon to deploy troops to its
northern region.
A senior official in Cameroon's Far
North region confirmed Wednesday's attack and the toll and said it was
followed by another attack overnight for which casualties are unknown.
The army determines death tolls either visually, or by
counting the number of vehicles it destroys and estimating how many
militants each vehicle carried, said the official, who declined to be
identified.
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