Cameroon says regional forces free 5,000 Boko Haram captives

By Sylvain AndzongoYAOUNDE (Reuters) - Regional West African forces freed 5,000 captives from a Boko Haram base in a more than week-long operation that also completely destroyed the militants' hideout in mountains along the Nigeria-Cameroon border, Cameroon said Wednesday.The "hostages freed consisted mostly of women, children and elderly people," Communications Minister Issa Tchiroma Bakary told a news conference.Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram has been fighting since 2009 to try to establis