Boko Haram got more that what it bargained for, suffering heavy defeat in a crossborder attack on an army base in Cameroon’s far north region of Amchide. The terrorist group lost 116 fighters when Cameroon’s army reacted fiercely to the attack conducted by about 3,000 suspected Boko Haram fighters from Wednesday to Thursday, the country’s defence ministry said yesterday.

Sources from the ministry who declined to be named said that the attack started at around 16:00 local time (15:00 GMT) Wednesday, leaving three Cameroonian soldiers killed.

The sources said the two sides engaged in heaving fighting with heavy weapons in Amchide and Limani, two places in far north of Cameroon bordering Nigeria, where the suspected Boko Haram fighters regularly launch attacks.

According to the sources, the three Cameroonian soldiers who were killed in the attack are from the Rapid Intervention Battalion (RIB), an elite troop deployed in the far-north of Cameroon for several months to fight against Boko Haram fundamentalists.

The sources said 6 RIB soldiers were injured in the attack.

The attack comes less than a week after a previous attack during which the Cameroonian army announced having killed at least 180 Boko Haram fighters on Dec. 12 in the same localities.

Security sources said it’s within the same territory that over 200 Boko Haram fighters were killed together with nine Cameroonian soldiers, during deadly clashes between the two camps on Oct. 15 and 16 in 2014.

•Text adapted from a Xinhua report. Photo shows Cameroonian soldiers in action.