YAOUNDE - A Cameroonian soldier has been killed and 10 Chinese nationals presumed kidnapped after an overnight attack in northern Cameroon believed to have been carried out by Boko Haram militants from Nigeria.

Militants stormed an encampment used by Chinese road workers in a region of northern Cameroon just across the border from the strongholds where they sparked global outrage by abducting more than 200 schoolgirls last month.

Students from a South African school hold posters to support the release of the kidnapped girls in Nigeria. Credit:AP

"Boko Haram Islamists attacked a camp (of road workers)... 10 Chinese cannot be found since the attack. We think they have probably been kidnapped," a local police chief said on condition of anonymity on Saturday.

The cross-border attack overnight on Friday comes as Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan was in Paris for a meeting with the leaders of neighbouring states on forging a regional strategy against the Islamist group.