African Leaders Work To Counter Boko Haram

PARIS (AP) — Hours after yet another attack in a Boko Haram stronghold, African leaders and Western officials drew the outlines of an international plan to share intelligence and coordinate the fight against the Islamic extremist group holding more than 200 girls captive.

Calling the group fundamentally opposed to civilization, French President Francois Hollande emphasized Boko Haram’s links with al-Qaida and other terrorist organizations.

The militants, who claim to be fighting a holy war in Nigeria, move freely across the border into neighboring Cameroon, where a Chinese engineering firm’s camp came under attack late Friday. The camp was in the same nearly trackless parkland where the school girls were spirited away.

The leaders of Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon, Chad and Benin met Saturday with French, U.S. and British officials in hopes of coordinating strategy and sharing intelligence to find the girls.

Boko Haram has…