Ten civilians and a soldier were killed in separate attacks by the Nigeria-based Islamist group Boko Haram in Cameroon’s north, Cameroonian military officials say.
In the first incident, five members of the same family and a soldier were killed when two female suicide bombers struck at about 6 p.m. Saturday near a military base in the town of Dabanga, near the Nigerian border.
“The explosives not only killed the terrorists, it also took away the lives of five people belonging to a single family,” said Col. Joseph Nouma, commander of Cameroon’s counterterrorism forces.
The soldier died of his injuries overnight in a hospital, and a colleague was seriously wounded.
About two hours later, Boko Haram struck again in the village of Gouzoudou, close to the Nigerian border in Cameroon’s north, killing five people, said Nouma.
“They also burned down ten houses,” Nouma said.
Cameroon’s Far North Region flanks northeast Nigeria, Boko Haram’s heartland, and has become a regular target for the Islamist group’s insurgents.
A week ago, at least six people were killed when suicide bombers struck the border town of Fotokol.
Boko Haram overtook ISIS to become the world’s deadliest terror group last year, responsible for 6,644 deaths in 2014, according to the Global Terrorism Index, a report released earlier this month.