A female suicide bomber on Friday killed thirteen civilians, eight of them children, when she blew herself up in a jihadist attack on a village in northern Cameroon.
A traditional chief and a police officer told AFP.
According Mahamat Chetima Abba, the traditional chief, who is also referred to as lamido, in the village of Mozogo, the attackers arrived in the middle of the night, shouting “Allah Akbar” (“God is greater”) and brandishing machetes.
Lamido said the victims died while trying to run off into the nearby forest, and in the stampede the suicide bomber detonated her device.
The account was confirmed by a member of the local defence committee, who said his group had tried to repel the attack.
“Thirteen civilians died, two of them children aged four and five as well as six teenagers,” a regional police officer told AFP by phone, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The Lamido confirmed the number, saying that a woman and her three children were among the dead.
Both attributed the attack to Boko Haram.
According to Police source, the other fatality among the attackers was a man who was killed by the self-defence force.
“They infiltrated the population – Boko Haram is inflicting more and more damage here,” Chetima Abba said.
“However, it seems that they no longer have the means to carry out mass attacks using guns,” he said, noting that the assailants had carried machetes.
“They are using home-made bombs more and more,” he said.
