Two Child suicide bombers kill nine, injure 30 in northern Cameroon

At least nine people were killed and thirty others wounded after two female suicide bombers aged between 10 and 15 detonated explosives at a refugee camp in Kolofata in northern Cameroon on Friday, local authorities say.

The bombers entered the town at around 5.30 a.m. local time (0430GMT), posing as refugees looking for food before the start of the daytime fast for Ramadan.

Regional Governor Midjiyawa Bakari blamed the attack on Boko Haram, the militant group that has carried out attacks and kidnappings in Cameroon as it has widened its insurgency to the area around Lake Chad.

A local government official said the 10 gravely wounded had been transported to a hospital in a nearby town.

“It was unbearable. People were screaming. Others were moaning. It was total horror,” said a policeman present at the scene of the bombing.

Northern Cameroon has in recent years suffered from the overflow of violence linked to Nigeria’s Boko Haram insurgents. Nigerian refugees have flooded across the border and local residents have been forced to flee their homes.

Boko Haram launches frequent cross-border raids in its bid to carve out an Islamic caliphate. Its eight-year insurgency has killed more than 20,000 people and displaced two million in the Lake Chad region.