Obama Sends Troops To Aid In The Fight Against Boko Haram

The United States deployed approximately 90 troops to Cameroon Monday as part of an effort to assist Cameroon and other regional governments in their efforts to battle extremist groups in the region.

President Barack Obama sent a letter to Congress Wednesday informing lawmakers of the move.

In the letter, sent under the War Powers Resolution, Obama said the total number of U.S. military

personnel would eventually rise to approximately 300, and would provide airborne intelligence, surveillance and other reconnaissance operations at the request and invitation of the Cameroonian government.

"These forces are equipped with weapons for the purpose of providing their own force protection and security, and they will remain in Cameroon until their support is no longer needed," he wrote.

Cameroon, along with other countries in West Africa have been locked in battle with Boko Haram, a terror group based in northern Nigeria that has been waging a years-long campaign of terror aimed at instituting its extreme version of Sharia law.

Militants from the group killed about 30 people and wounded 145 others in attacks on a market and infirmary in northern Cameroon last month, just the latest of many attacks Boko Haram has launched over the years in Cameroon, Chad and other countries that border Nigeria.