Dozens killed in Cameroon following Boko Haram suicide attacks
Dozens killed in Cameroon following Boko Haram suicide attacks
At least 35 people have been killed in northern Cameroon following four suicide bomb attacks thought to be carried out by Islamic State group African militia Boko Haram.
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Cameroon soldiers attacked Boko Haram positions in Nigeria in response to the bombings [AFP]
Four suicide bombers attacked the northern Cameroonian town of Bodo near the border with Nigeria on Monday, killing at least 35 people and wounding 65 others, officials said.
Suspicion has fallen on the Islamic State group linked Nigerian militia Boko Haram, who have carried out similar attacks in Cameroon.
Two of the suicide bombers targeted the town's packed marketplace, while the other two detonated explosives in other parts of the town, the regional governor said.
The wounded have been taken to hospitals in the northern Cameroon city of Kousseri, Midjiyawa Bakari added.
Cameroon officials blamed the Nigeria-based extremist group Boko Haram for the attack, saying the assailants crossed over from Nigeria.
In response, Cameroon soldiers carried out raids inside Nigeria from the Cameroonian town of Achigashia, killing at least 17 insurgents, Cameroon's Minister of Communications Issa Tchiroma Bakary said Monday night.
"The suicide bombers were escorted to Cameroon by Boko Haram fighters," Bakary said. "We must trace them wherever they are."
Suicide bombers have killed dozens in the region in the past month.
On 18 January, a 14-year-old suicide bomber attacked a mosque in the region, killing four - the fifth attack on a mosque in Cameroon in less than a month.
Nigerian based Boko Haram militants began stepping up attacks early last year on neighbouring Cameroon, Niger and Chad.
These countries have all contributed troops in efforts to crush Boko Haram.
Boko Haram joined the Islamic State group in March 2015.
On Monday, the IS-linked Amaq News Agency posted a message reporting suicide bombings in northern Cameroon, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadi websites.
The message said the attacks on Bodo village targeted "gatherings of the militias allied with the army operating on the border with Nigeria".
Boko Haram's six-year insurgency has killed about 20,000 people and displaced 2.3 million, according to Amnesty International and the United Nations.
Agencies contributed to this report.
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