Three civilians were killed and around 20 others wounded yesterday in a suicide attack in northern Cameroon, officials and a vigilante group said.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a security official told AFP the attack took place in Mora, a town in Cameroon’s far north near the Nigerian border – an area which has suffered repeatedly from attacks by Nigeria’s Boko Haram Islamist militants.
“A man riding a motorbike blew himself up on a bridge near the market in Mora,” he said.
He said the blast had killed three civilians and the bomber.
An official from a local vigilante group confirmed a toll of “four dead and many wounded”, saying the attack took place around 7am (0600 GMT).
Midjiyawa Bakari, governor of the Far North region, confirmed a “provisional toll” of three civilians plus the suicide bomber.
He identified the victims as a teacher, a high school student and a person from a neighbouring town, and said five of the wounded were in “serious condition”.
He said a helicopter was on hand to take them to hospital in Maroua, the regional capital.
Mora is home to the headquarters of a multi-national force fighting Boko Haram, which groups troops from Cameroon, Nigeria, Chad and Niger.
There are currently more than 8,000 Cameroonian soldiers deployed in the far north to counter Boko Haram, and there is a large military base for the motorised infantry brigades in the Mora area.
A similar suicide attack in the same area killed at least 10 people in Djakana at the end of June.
Boko Haram’s seven-year insurgency has killed at least 20,000 people in Nigeria and border areas of neighbouring Niger, Chad and Cameroon.
It has also left more than 2.8mn homeless, fleeing attacks by militants who have ransacked villages across the poverty-stricken region.
Last month, Amnesty International accused Cameroon of rights abuse during its battle to clear the far north of Boko Haram Islamists.