from ROSY SADOU in Yaoundé, Cameroon
YAOUNDE, (CAJ News) – A SUICIDE bomb attack has killed at least seven people and wounded 14 others at a village hosting internally displaced people (IDPs) in northern Cameroon.
It is believed Boko Haram, the terror group from neghbouring Nigeria, is responsible for the attack that occurred earlier this week at Goldavi village
The attack in the place close to the border with Nigeria comes a month after another suicide attack left 18 people dead and 15 injured in an IDP site, also in the Far North.
“We are horrified by these senseless attacks on people who have been torn from their villages, fleeing violence perpetrated by armed gangs which rage in the region, only to be stripped of safety again after they just found refuge elsewhere,” said Olivier Guillaume Beer, representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Cameroon.
Some 18 000 IDPs, including 7 000 Cameroonians, have sought safety in the volatile region over the past seven years.
“The killing of innocent civilians has to stop,” said Beer, reiterating attacks were contrary to international humanitarian law and human rights law.
“We call on armed groups to respect the rights and lives of civilian populations.”
Boko Haram is the most active group in northern Cameroon.
The area is part of the Lake Chad Basin where more than 30 000 people have been killed and over 3 million others forced to flee.
Boko Haram’s violent campaign aims to establish an Islamic state in the region.
– CAJ News