A French family of seven - including four children- was kidnapped on Tuesday in northern Cameroon, and officials suggest the involvement of Boko Haram, one of Nigeria's Islamic terrorist sects. The French gas group GDF Suez identified the captives as an employee working in the Cameroon capital of Yaounde and his family. The group was vacationing in the north, a company statement said without elaborating, according to the Associated Press.
"The three adult tourists and four children were picked up early today (Tuesday) by men riding on motorbikes who rode off toward the border into Nigeria," the Far North Regional Delegate in the Ministry of Forest and Wildlife, Jean-David Ndjigba said from the province's capital of Maroua.
According to reports, the hostages were taken away even as a crow of crowd of people were watching: . "Nobody could help the white men because the kidnappers were heavily armed and they threatened to shoot anyone that approached," said a Cameroonian trader, who insisted on anonymity because he feared for his safety.
French citizens who are based in Western Africa have been under attack. French President Francois Hollande, while speaking during in Greece warned French citizens in West Africa to avoid putting themselves in dangerous situations, saying that "terrorists are not just In Mali."
The latest kidnappings have added to fears of instability and danger toward Westerners. Before Tuesday, there were eight French citizens being held in the region, including one who was taken in Nigeria.
Boko Haram - which means "Western education is sacrilege" - has launched a guerrilla campaign of bombings and shootings across Nigeria's predominantly Muslim north. It is blamed for at least 792 killings last year alone, according to the Associated Press. It is known to have ties to al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, also known as AQIM, an Algerian-based group that also reportedly operates in Mali.
