Female suicide bombers kill dozens in Cameroon Nigeria

(MENAFN- Arab News) YAOUNDE Cameroon: A 12-year-old girl suicide bomber killed 20 people in an attack on a bar in Maroua in Cameroon while in a crowded market in neighboring Nigeria a 'mentally handicapped' female attacker killed 14.
The child bomber blew herself up among Saturday night revellers in the popular bar injuring at least 79 others Cameroonian state TV reported on Sunday.
Early Sunday in the northeastern Nigerian town of Damaturu a woman described by locals as 'mentally unstable' detonated herself at the entrance of a market trader Garba Abdullahi told AFP.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for either bombing but Nigeria and increasingly Cameroon have suffered repeated attacks by Boko Haram extremists including a recent string of suicide attacks by women and girls.
The militants whose six-year insurgency and efforts to quell it have left at least 15000 dead have recently stepped up their attacks in the restive Lake Chad region despite a major regional offensive.
Cameroon's army has joined the campaign against Boko Haram after a series of deadly cross-border raids into its territory.
The insurgents have abducted thousands of people including hundreds of women and girls in the past two years rights groups say.
The former commercial hub of Maroua in northern Cameroon was already reeling after 13 people were killed in twin suicide bombings by two teenage girls on Wednesday in a central market and in a nearby neighborhood.
Violence returned on Saturday night to the town which has been under heavy security for months as the threat from Boko Haram has grown.
'A girl of around 12 blew herself up between two takeaway sales points. Security forces have sealed off the area and have made several arrests' state TV said.
Saturday's was the fifth suicide attack to hit Cameroon in two weeks.
A resident told of 'a loud explosion' saying there had been an attack at the Boucan bar a large and popular nightspot.
'There's panic' he said.