Boko Haram kill soldier, 10 Chinese missing in Cameroon: police

Yaoundé (AFP) - A Cameroonian soldier was killed and 10 Chinese nationals were feared kidnapped after an overnight attack in northern Cameroon believed to have been carried out by Boko Haram militants from Nigeria, police said Saturday.

"Boko Haram Islamists attacked a camp (of road workers)... Ten Chinese cannot be found since the attack. We think they have probably been kidnapped," a local police chief said on condition of anonymity.

One Cameroonian soldier was killed, said the source, correcting an earlier statement that said a Chinese national died in the attack.

The cross-border attack comes as Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan was in Paris for a meeting with the leaders of neighbouring states on forging a regional strategy against the Islamist group.

A source close to the Chinese embassy in Yaounde spoke of "10 Chinese missing" and "one wounded".

"Cameroonian soldiers retaliated and the fighting lasted until 3:00 am (0200 GMT)," the officer said.

"The Boko Haram militants were heavily armed, they came in five vehicles," an official in Waza, near the site of the attack in a northern Cameroonian region near the Nigerian border, told AFP on condition of anonymity.

He said the camp where the Chinese road workers stayed was usually guarded by soldiers from Cameroon's elite Rapid Intervention Battalion.

"Their numbers were thinner these past few days because many of them had gone down to Yaounde" for the traditional military parade marking National Day on May 20, the official said.

The police officer said the militants also attacked the police post in Waza overnight and raided its armoury.