Terrorism in Cameroon

The risk of terrorist attacks in Cameroon over the past years can be classified as high. Compared to other countries, it is still placed somewhere in the middle of a terrorism ranking. Over the past 5 years a total number of 258 terrorist incidents has been recorded, in which 1519 people have been killed and 982 injured. Among them were 85 suicide acts.

In 59 incedents a total of 469 people have been kidnapped or taken as hostage, though a ransom was rarely (11 times) extorted.

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Most frequent attack targets in Cameroon

(2013 to 2017)

Target	Attacks	Killed	Injured	Hostages
Private citizens	177	1,314	779	400
Police	19	41	51	2
Religious institutions	17	184	16	33
Business	12	51	136	14
Military	10	319	84	1
Government	10	21	1	25
Educational institution	5	5	0	0
Non-state militias	4	16	10	0
Transportation	3	23	6	20
Tourists	1	0	0	7

Most affected regions

(2013 to 2017)

Region	Attacks	Killed	Injured	Hostages
Extreme-North	214	1,433	963	357
North-West	15	4	3	0
East	11	10	0	70
South-West	6	10	10	0
Adamawa	3	9	1	14
North	3	28	0	9
Extreme North	1	0	0	1

Terrorist organisations in Cameroon

Organisation	Attacks	Killed	Injured	Hostages
Boko Haram	199	1,431	958	346
Seleka	2	14	0	0
Movement for the Restoration of the Independence of Southern Cameroons	2	0	0	0
Anti-Balaka Militia	1	0	0	2
Muslim extremists	1	6	0	0
Liberation Front for English-speaking Cameroon	1	0	3	0

All information sourced from the "National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism" (START) and its Global Terrorism Database. An act of terrorism is concidered every incident which is aimed at attaining a political, economic, religious, or social goal, but not for pure profit motives. In addition these incidents must not be legitimized by warfare activities, listet in the Geneva Conventions of 1949.