Deadly suicide bombings target Cameroon's Far North

© Reinnier Kaze, AFP | A picture taken on February 17, 2015 shows a Cameroonian soldier walking in the Cameroonian town of Fotokol, on the border with Nigeria.

A female suicide bomber killed five civilians, including the head of the small village of Leymarie near Fotokol, the governor of the Far North region, Midjiyawa Bakari, told AFP. Three other female attackers blew themselves up without causing any casualties.

Boko Haram has mounted numerous attacks in Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria this year and is turning the border region near Lake Chad into a war zone, the United Nations refugee agency said last month.

Boko Haram has waged a six-year campaign for an Islamist state in northeastern Nigeria. Neighbouring countries joined an offensive against the group this year and the conflict spilled across their borders, displacing tens of thousands of people.

Boko Haram used Cameroon’s impoverished Far North to stockpile supplies and recruits until the government cracked down last year.

Cameroon is also in an 8,700-strong regional force led by Nigeria against the militants, expected to be operational by the end of the year. The United States is sending military supplies and troops to the central African country to aid the fight.