Two civilians have been killed in a suicide attack in Cameroon’s restive Far North, an area regularly targeted by Boko Haram jihadists, local sources told AFP early Friday.
The incident, which took place on Thursday evening, saw a female bomber entering Limani on the border with Nigeria and blowing herself up “behind the town’s public school,” a source close to the security services said.
“There were three people killed: two civilians and the bomber,” the source said. Details of the attack were confirmed to AFP by a member of the local vigilance committee.
In recent weeks, the restive Far North region has seen a resurgence in Boko Haram attacks after months of relative calm.
Senatorial Poll: Adeleke’s brother joins PDP in Osun
Last week, a soldier was killed in an attack in Kolofata, 20 kilometres (12 miles) west of Limani, and in early June, nine civilians died in a double suicide bombing in the same town.
In another incident on Thursday morning, one member of the vigilance committee in a village near Kolofata was killed and nine others wounded in a friendly fire incident, according to the source close to security officials.
“The army made a mistake. They fired a rocket-propelled grenade towards a group of vigilantes” in the mistaken belief they were jihadists.
Made up of local residents, these vigilance committees aim to inform security forces of any suspicious activity in a bid to prevent attacks by Boko Haram, which has been waging an insurgency since 2009.
Though Boko Haram was born in Nigeria, the Islamic State-affiliated group has carried out frequent attacks in Cameroon, Chad and Niger, prompting the formation of a regional force to fight back.
Some 200,000 Cameroonians from the Far North region have fled their villages in fear of the violence.
