Boko Haram militants killed at least 12 people in attacks on two Cameroonian villages on the northern border with Nigeria, a senior military official said on Friday April 17, 2015.

The Islamic extremists entered the villages of Bia and Diana late Thursday, looting and burning property while shooting indiscriminately, leaving 10 men and two women dead, said Col. Jacob Kodji in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.

“You know our boundary with Nigeria is very porous and some people are traumatized,” he said.

Cameroon has deployed troops to the area and a few arrests have been made, he said. Soldiers from neighboring Chad, Cameroon and Niger have helped oust Boko Haram in recent weeks from Nigerian towns held for months.

Boko Haram’s nearly 6-year-old Islamic uprising in northeast Nigeria that has killed thousands — a reported 10,000 just last year — and forced more than 1.5 million from their homes.