At least 20 people have been declared dead and 70 wounded after a suicide bombing late Saturday in the Cameroon town of Maroua. Officials say the suicide bomber was a 13-year-old girl.
Cameroon Defense Minister Edgard Alain Mebe Ngo'o said the young girl detonated a series of explosives in the popular Pont Vert neighborhood, barely a kilometer from the scene of last Wednesday's twin suicide bomb attacks. He said the population must develop a culture of vigilance because Boko Haram has changed strategy.
Mebe Ngo'o said all suspects should be reported to the military that more than ever before needs the collaboration of the populace. He said he was urging business people, traditional rulers, administrative authorities and everyone to constitute themselves in self-defense groups to save lives.
There has been no claim of responsibility, but Mebe Ngo'o blamed the terrorist group Boko Haram.
The group founded in neighboring Nigeria pledged its allegiance to the the Islamic State group, and its leader Abubakar Shekau vowed to attack the central African country because it supported Nigeria in its efforts to defeat Boko Haram.
Last Wednesday, dozens of people were killed in Maroua in a twin suicide bomb attack in which two teenage girls disguised as a merchant and a beggar detonated bombs in a market and a popular neighborhood called Barmare.
