YAOUNDE (AFP) - Boko Haram fighters killed nearly 70 civilians and six soldiers in an onslaught on the Cameroonian border town of Fotokol on Wednesday, a Cameroonian security source told AFP.

"There are many (dead) civilians, nearly 70. The toll for the soldiers stands at six," said the source in Fotokol, adding that there were also Boko Haram bodies "everywhere".

The attack came a day after Chad sent troops across the border to flush the militants out of the Nigerian town of Gamboru, which lies some 500m from Fotokol on the other side of a bridge.