Suicide bomber kills at least 12 in Cameroon mosque

A suicide bomber killed 12 people and wounded at least one in an attack on a mosque in northern Cameroon on Wednesday, officials in the Far North region said, the latest attack in an area beset by violence linked to Nigeria’s Boko Haram.

Cameroonian troops form part of an 8,700-strong regional force created to defeat Boko Haram, the militant group which has stepped up attacks outside Nigeria over the past year, threatening regional security.

The United States is sending military supplies and troops to the central African country to aid the fight.

“The suicide attack took place at 5:40 a.m. (0440 GMT) in a mosque at Kouyape. There were 13 deaths including the man who blew himself up and one wounded,” said a senior local official who declined to be identified. Another source confirmed the same number.

So far no group has officially claimed responsibility for the attack.

Boko Haram has waged a six-year campaign for an Islamist state in northeastern Nigeria. Regional countries including Chad, Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon and Benin set up a task force last year to fight the group as the conflict spilled across their borders, displacing tens of thousands of people.

Many of the recent Cameroon attacks have been conducted by women.