Vigilantes are in the fight against Boko Haram

Members of a local vigilante force in the Cameroonian borderlandshave formed up to defend against the latest threat imposed by Boko Haramgirls strapped with explosives.

Made up of men and boys armed with machetes, homemade rifles or bows and arrows, these local forces have the blessing of government and accompany the army on patrols.

Cameroon's army has turned toso-called vigilance committees for help.

Last monthtwo suicide bombersboth womenwere intercepted by the vigilante forces,proof the system worksand is, for now, here to stay.

Cameroon has been hard-hit by Boko Haram.

After watching its influence spread during a six-year campaign that, according to the U.S. military,has killed15,000 people, Cameroon has united with its regional neighbours to stamp outBokoHaram.

The primary instrument in that effort is an 8,700 member-strong force of troops from Benin, Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria assembled foran offensive last year. TheseCameroonian soldiers, part of the country's elite Rapid Intervention Brigade,are part of that effort and were photographed while onpatrol in Kerawa town onMarch 16.

The U.S.-backed Rapid Intervention Brigade, known by its French acronymBIR, is Cameroon's official responsein the high-risk,400 kilometre-long stretch of northern territory at the centre ofBokoHaram'slatest strikes. Despite theheavily-armed presence,the area is still mostly guarded by the people who live there.

The coalition put BokoHaram on its heels.

While thejoint military operations were successful indriving Boko Haram from most of their strongholds (denying them their dream of an Islamic emirate in northeastern Nigeria)governmentforces are now thinly spread along an increasingly porous border.

This isKolofatatown, and a village on its outskirtsnear theCameroon-Nigeria border, onMarch 16.

According to a report from UNICEF released Tuesday, the number of child bombers used by Boko Haramhas increased from four to 44 in a year. Seventy-five per cent of thosechildren are girls.

Since August 2014, the sect has carried out 336 attacks in Cameroon, according to the Cameroonian army, which has lost 57 of its own men while defending the north.Of 34 recorded suicide bombings killing 174 people, mostwere carried out by girls and young women aged 14 to 24 years, afact that iscausing some villagers to be suspicious of young people.

Boko Haram's greatest weapons are fear and doubt.

Close to the border sits the UN-run Minawao camp, home to nearly 57,000 refugees who have fled Boko Haram in Nigeria. Even here, suspicion runs high. New refugees are often pegged by villagers asinfiltrators looking for recruits.

Here,a security officer scans a woman entering a health clinic at Minawaoin March.

Thursday marks 2 years since the Chibok abductions.

A video released by BokoHaram on Tuesday may be the first sighting of some of the abducted school girls since their capture in 2014.Three mothers, includingYanaGalang, seen here with a picture of herdaughterRifkatuGalang, said they had identified their children in the footage that featured about 15 girls. Galeng was photographed in Lagos, Nigeria, this month.

Boko Haram militants abducted 276 schoolgirls from Chibok, in Nigeria's rural north,on April 14, 2014. Of the kidnapped students,57 escaped while219 remain missing despite a global campaign to find them.

Various false leads have raised hopes but their whereabouts remainunknown. The children pictured below were photographed in Chibok on March 25.