Suicide bomb attacks on Cameroon market leave dozens dead

Four suicide bombers killed at least 28 people in a village in Cameroon's Far North region on Monday, a local official said, the most deadly in a string of recent attacks in an area beset by violence connected to Boko Haram.

Two bombers struck the Bodo central market while others hit the town's main entrance and exit points, the official said. At least 65 people were also injured in the incident. 

“There was a quadruple suicide bombing in the village of Bodo this morning,” he said.

While there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, northern Cameroon has become the scene of increasingly frequent suicide attacks as Boko Haram has stepped up cross-border violence that has also spread into Chad and Niger.

“We have information the four bombers came from Nigeria. We are investigating where they spent the night before attacking the market,” the region's Governor Midjiyawa Bakari said. 

Boko Haram has killed thousands of people and driven more than two million people from their homes during its six-year insurgency in one of the world's poorest regions.

Regional armies mounted an offensive against the insurgents last year that ousted them from many positions in northern Nigeria.

Cameroonian troops form part of an 8,700-strong regional force created to defeat Boko Haram, which has waged a six-year campaign to carve out a separate state in northeastern Nigeria.

The establishment of the force has been plagued by delays, however, and joint operations have yet to begin, leaving it up to national armies to tackle Boko Haram individually. In the absence of effective coordination, security sources have warned this can often mean that soldiers just drive the militants across each other's borders.

Boko Haram has stepped up attacks outside Nigeria over the past year, including in Cameroon, Chad and Niger, threatening regional security.

Monday's bombing was not the first time the town of Bodo has been targeted. At the end of December, two female suicide bombers blew themselves up at the town's entrance.

Officials said at the time that the bombers were trying to access the market but were stopped by local residents. No others were injured in that bombing.

On Jan. 13, a suicide bomber killed 12 people and wounded at least one other in an attack on a mosque in Kouyape in northern Cameroon.

Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria have all contributed troops to a regional offensive devoted to driving back Boko Haram, and the United States has contributed military supplies and troops for assistance.

Wire services