Cameroon security forces have killed at least 10 suspected Boko Haram militants in three clashes in the north of the country near its border with Nigeria, a senior military official said on Thursday.

Cameroon has deployed over 1,000 troops along the long and porous border after it came under pressure from its neighbour for not doing enough to counter the Islamist insurgents, who are suspected of using Cameroon as a base.

Boko Haram grabbed global attention after kidnapping more than 200 girls from a school in northeast Nigeria in April, since when the group has killed hundreds of civilians. It has also carried out attacks and kidnappings in Cameroon.

Cameroon defence forces killed six members of Boko Haram on Tuesday in the village of Wambache, Colonel Felix Nji Formekong, a regional military commander, told Reuters.

In a separate clash at another village on the same day, two other militants were killed, and another two were killed after a suspected Boko Haram convoy attacked a Cameroon army patrol in another village on Sunday, he added.

Boko Haram has waged a five-year campaign of attacks on civilians and security forces in northern Nigeria. But the mass kidnapping of the girls in April put the group in the global spotlight and drew pledges of a regional coordinated push against it.

A number of Westerners have been kidnapped in Cameroon's remote north over the last year but Yaounde has until now adopted a low-key response to the threat from Nigeria.