“A group of Boko Haram fighters made an incursion during the night in Assigashia,” a source close to administrative authorities in the area said, asking not be named. “The attackers killed five people and wounded five more.”

The raid and casualty toll were confirmed by an official in the security services.

Assigashia is a border town which gives direct access to Nigeria and has seen many Boko Haram incursions in the past.

The Nigerian jihadists are blamed for killing another civilian in the town in January.

Since 2014, the year Cameroon began to fight Boko Haram, the group has killed 2,000 civilians and soldiers and kidnapped about 1,000 people in the region, according to an analysis by the International Crisis Group (ICG) think tank.

Boko Haram, a militant movement opposed to Western influence and seeking an Islamic state based on Sharia law, has caused the deaths of at least 20,000 people since it took up arms in 2009.

Nigeria’s neighbours Cameroon, Chad and Niger have all joined the military effort to crush Boko Haram, whose activity extends to the Lake Chad region where their borders merge. DM