NIGERIA-VIOLENCE/CAMEROON At least 19 killed in suicide attack in north Cameroon

Record ID: 146260

  • Title: NIGERIA-VIOLENCE/CAMEROON At least 19 killed in suicide attack in north Cameroon
  • Date: 26th July 2015
  • Summary: MAROUA, GREAT NORTH REGION, CAMEROON (JULY 25, 2015) (REUTERS) SOLDIERS AT SCENE OF ATTACK
  • Embargoed: 10th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Cameroon
  • Country: Cameroon
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA3OFX29N3KDGJ2ZUATNY1KTYHH
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: At least 19 people were killed in a suicide bombing in the northern Cameroonian town of Maroua on Saturday (July 25), a local military commander said, just three days after twin bombings there suspected to have been carried out by Boko Haram.
    Residents said the female bomber struck at a bar in the Pont Vert neighbourhood, close to a bridge crossing a river that runs next to the town, at around 7.50 p.m. local time (1850 GMT).
    A butcher, El Hadj, was at work nearby when the blast happened and escaped with light injuries.
    "I was cutting meat next to my uncle. We did not know what the explosion was and we saw everybody falling on the ground, their bodies scattered, many dead, I mean really dead," he said.
    In the wake of the explosion, which was heard across the capital of Cameroon's North Region, military and emergency services poured over the scene in search of survivors.
    A senior military officer in Maroua told Reuters at least 19 people had been killed and 62 injured in the attack.
    Cameroonian state television said the bomber was a teenage girl.
    One resident told Reuters it appeared that the toll could be as high as 30 dead as the bar had been crowded at the time. There was no official confirmation of this.
    Twin suicide bombings on Wednesday (July 22) killed at least 13 people and wounded 32 others in what appeared to be Boko Haram's deepest incursion from neighbouring Nigeria.
    No-one has claimed responsibility for either Wednesday's or Saturday's strikes but Boko Haram has stepped up attacks on the countries bordering its northeast Nigerian stronghold - Chad, Niger and Cameroon - following a regional offensive against it earlier this year.
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