At least four killed in twin suicide attacks in north Cameroon

At least four people were killed in twin suicide attacks in the far north of Cameroon, an area that has been repeatedly targeted by Boko Haram jihadists from neighbouring Nigeria, security sources and state media said Wednesday.

“Two suicide bombers blew themselves up in two districts of Waza” on the Nigerian border on Tuesday night, a security source who did not wish to be named, said.

State radio confirmed the report, saying two assailants detonated explosives, “killing six people, including themselves”.

The victims included civilian vigilantes who were trained by the community to guard Waza against attacks, the security source said.

The attacks are the first of their kind in Waza, a town on the edge of a national park teeming with lions, elephants and other wildlife that used to draw tourists but which has been abandoned by foreign visitors since the region, which borders Nigeria and Chad, became a target for extremist attacks.

The attacks have been blamed on Boko Haram, a radical Sunni jihadist group seeking to create a hardline Islamic state in northeast Nigeria.

Over the past year Boko Haram has stepped up cross-border attacks in Niger, Chad and Cameroon while also continuing to mount shooting and suicide assaults on markets, mosques and other mostly civilian targets within Nigeria itself.

Cameroon is part of a regional coalition helping Nigeria combat the jihadists.