At least 12 Cameroonian soldiers were killed in a militant attack near the Nigerian border, likely by Boko Haram or its ISIS-affiliated faction. The attack highlights the group's growing weaponry and transnational alliances. Boko Haram's insurgency, which began in 2009, has spread across West Africa, causing thousands of deaths and mass displacement.

At least 12 Cameroonian soldiers were killed on Monday night in an attack by Islamic militants near the border with Nigeria, according to a statement from the Cameroonian Ministry of Defense.

The attack, which left more than a dozen soldiers wounded, took place in the Lake Chad region near the town of Wulgo, the ministry said on Thursday. While no group was immediately blamed, officials later stated that the attack was suspected to have been carried out by extremists from Boko Haram or its breakaway faction that is loyal to the Islamic State group.

The ministry pointed to Boko Haram militants, citing their increasing access to advanced weaponry and an apparent alliance with powerful transnational criminal entities as key factors in Monday’s attack.

Boko Haram, originally based in Nigeria, launched its insurgency in 2009 with the aim of fighting Western education and imposing its radical interpretation of Islamic law. The conflict, now the longest-running militant struggle in Africa, has spread into Nigeria’s neighboring countries, including Chad, Niger, and Cameroon.

According to the United Nations, the violence has claimed approximately 35,000 civilian lives and displaced more than 2 million people in northeastern Nigeria alone. The 2014 abduction of 276 schoolgirls by Boko Haram in the village of Chibok, Borno state—the epicenter of the conflict—brought global attention to the group's brutality.

In January, at least 40 people were killed in an attack by Boko Haram across the border in Nigeria.