Suspected Boko Haram militants from Nigeria have killed some of the passengers they seized from a bus in Cameroon on Monday.
A witness tells VOA that the kidnappers killed seven of the 20 hostages and dumped their bodies on Cameroon's northern boundary with Nigeria.
Chetima Ahmidou, the principal of a government school in the area, said his brother, who was driving the bus, was found with one of his arms and one of his legs chopped off.
He said the kidnappers freed three elderly women and are still holding 10 hostages, including eight girls ages 11 to 14.
Cameroon military spokesman Colonel Didier Badjeck and local governor Midjiyawa Bakari confirmed the dumping of the bodies but said they were waiting for information on the casualty total.
United force
Cameroon is one of three African countries whose troops have clashed with Boko Haram in the past week, along with Niger and Chad.
On Monday, troops in Niger repelled a Boko Haram attack on a prison in the town of Diffa. Later in the day, a female suicide bomber killed six people in the town.
Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Cameroon and Benin are creating a regional force of 8,700 troops to fight Boko Haram.
The Islamist extremists have killed thousands of people since launching their insurgency in 2009 and control dozens of towns in northeastern Nigeria.
