Cameroon court jails five soldiers for killing women and children

A military court in Cameroon on Monday found five soldiers guilty of killing two women and their two small children.

Four of the accused received 10-year jail terms for carrying out and complicity in the killings, while the fifth soldier received a two-year sentence, a military court in the capital, Yaounde, ruled.

The women were killed in 2015 in northern Cameroon. One was carrying her baby on her back, while the other was leading her child by the hand.

The soldiers were arrested in 2018 after a video of the killing went viral and caused an outcry among Cameroonians, many of whom accused the army of extrajudicial killings in their war against Islamist terrorist group Boko Haram.

The government initially dismissed the video as fake news but later launched an investigation into the incident.

Boko Haram poses a steady threat to communities in the north-east of Nigeria and has also launched offensives in neighbouring Cameroon, Niger and Chad. The group’s goal is to enforce a strict interpretation of Islamic law, known as sharia.

Source: GNA