14 dead in twin Cameroon bombings

Toll in Maiduguri bombing hits 19

YAOUNDÉ: Two bombers blew themselves up in northeastern Cameroon killing 14 people and injuring 30 people in an attack likely staged by Boko Haram militants, security sources said Thursday.

The bombings, which took place on Wednesday evening in Waza near the Nigerian border, targeted a busy area in the market town, the sources said.

The bombers struck an area with “restaurants, telephone cabins and kiosks,” a local official said.

“The town has been sealed off. Nobody can enter and nobody can leave,” the source said, adding that some of the wounded were in “quite serious” condition.

Though Boko Haram was born in Nigeria, the Daesh-affiliated group has carried out frequent attacks in Cameroon, Chad and Niger, prompting the formation of a regional force to fight back.

Cameroon’s Far North region, which borders Nigeria, has seen a resurgence in attacks blamed on Boko Haram after months of relative calm.

Six civilians were killed in mid-June in a double suicide attack in Kolofata, and two others died in Limani at the start of last month when a female bomber blew herself up near the town’s public school.

Some 200,000 Cameroonians from the Far North region have fled their homes in fear of the violence.

Meanwhile, 19 people have now been confirmed dead after four female suicide bombers detonated their explosives in Maiduguri, northeast Nigeria, police said.

Borno state police commissioner Damian Chukwu said the bombers had targeted mourners at a funeral ceremony in the suburb of Molai Kolemari on Tuesday night.

Most of the victims were from a vigilante group called the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF), which assists the military in the hunt for Boko Haram.

“In all, 12 Civilian JTF members lost their lives with seven villagers and the four female suicide bombers, bringing the total number of deaths to 23,” said Chukwu.

Another 23 people were injured and taken to hospital for treatment, he added in a statement on Wednesday night.

Maiduguri is the capital of Borno state and has been repeatedly attacked during the eight-year Boko Haram insurgency, which has killed at least 20,000.

Women and young girls have increasingly been deployed as suicide bombers to hit crowded civilian “soft” targets such as mosques, markets and bus stations.