Obama pledges more troops to fight Boko Haram

by Jordan Fabian - 10/14/15 12:38 PM ET

President Obama plans to send up to 300 U.S. troops to Cameroon to help fight the extremist group Boko Haram, the White House said Wednesday.

The first group of 90 military personnel were deployed to the African nation on Monday, according to a letter Obama sent to Congress.

The troops are tasked with conducting “airborne intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance operations in the region,” Obama wrote. They are expected to remain in the country “until their support is no longer needed.”

Obama is sending troops on the heels of suicide bombings in Chad and Cameroon last weekend that killed more than 45 people. Cameroon’s government blamed the attack on Boko Haram, which is based in Nigeria.

Over the past year, Obama has deployed U.S. troops to Nigeria and Chad to help local forces fight the group and track down more than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls who were kidnapped by the group last April.

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