DHAKA: Boko Haram fighters kidnapped at least 60 people in a deadly attack in northern Cameroon on Sunday.

The police said, the incident happened in the latest cross-border raid by the Nigeria-based Islamist group.

It came a day after neighboring Chad deployed troops to combat Boko Haram in Cameroon and Nigeria, as part of a regional bid to combat the insurgents, reports the Times of India.

The militants torched houses and left with around 60 people kidnapped. Most of them were women and children," said a police officer.

It is the largest abduction ever carried out in Cameroon’s Far North region by Boko Haram and comes amid mounting fears the group is expanding its operations into neighboring countries.

Brutal raids, massacres, suicide bomb attacks and kidnappings by the Islamists have claimed at least 13,000 lives and driven an estimated 1.5 million people from their homes, mainly in its stronghold in northeast Nigeria.

BDST: 0953 HRS, JAN 19, 2014