North Cameroon bans full Islamic veil after suicide attacks

A northern region of Cameroon, which has suffered frequent attacks by the jihadist Boko Haram group, has banned the use of the full Islamic veil, governor Bakari Midjiyawa said Thursday.

“The full veil is completely forbidden” in the Far North region, where two women suicide attackers who were wearing the covering killed 11 people on Sunday, Midjiyawa told AFP.

“We have asked… police to question any woman who wears the full veil,” he added.

On Saturday, in another sign of Boko Haram’s threat to regional security, a suicide bomber disguised as a woman in a full-face veil blew himself up in Chad’s capital N’Djamena, killing 15.

The full veil is banned in Muslim-majority Chad.

Midjiyawa admitted the northern Cameroon ban would not be enough to stop jihadists from committing atrocities.

“A terrorist can easily hide an explosive under a robe or in a jacket,” he said, as he announced other bans including on tinted windows for vehicles and on motorbike traffic at night.

“The terrorists change strategy all the time, and we must adjust,” Midjiyawa added.

Boko Haram’s deadly insurgency has killed at least 15,000 people since 2009 and left more than 1.5 million homeless.

The group’s recent upsurge in attacks on civilians comes after a four-nation coalition of Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon pushed out the militants from captured territory earlier this year.