Updated

Cameroon's government says that more than 10,000 panic-stricken Cameroonians have fled areas that border Nigeria for safer locations in the wake of attacks by Nigeria's Islamic militant group Boko Haram.

The minister of territorial administration and decentralization Rene Emmanuel Sadi said Tuesday a humanitarian food crisis looms because the extremist insurgents have looted food and livestock.

Cameroon's minister of education Monouna Fotso said more than 10 schools had been deserted since Sunday's attack on Mabass village in northern Cameroon in which three people were killed and dozens kidnapped. He said that 140 schools have closed because of the attacks. Fotso said the government is trying to accommodate the affected students.

Boko Haram has, in the past month, raided at least two dozen villages and towns in Cameroon.