Twin suicide attacks kill five people in north Cameroon

Suspected Boko Haram militants detonated two suicide bombs in a village in northern Cameroon on Saturday afternoon, killing at least five people, security sources and an official told Reuters.

The attacks in the village of Dabanga are thought to be the latest in a series of cross-border raids into Cameroon's Far North Region by members of the Nigeria-based Islamist militants. "The provisional toll is seven dead, including the two suicide bombers, as well as two soldiers injured," said a senior government source, requesting anonymity.

One of the security sources said a woman and her children were among the dead. Two other security sources said a gendarme had been killed. Cameroon troops are part of an 8,700-strong regional task-force designed to defeat Boko Haram which has killed thousands and displaced millions of people in its bid to create a caliphate in northern Nigeria.

While authorities insist the force has been functional since August, there has been no sign of joint operations at a time when the Boko Haram insurgency appears to be intensifying.