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Female suicide bombers kill 5 in north Cameroon

Two female suspected Boko Haram militants detonated a pair of suicide bombs in a village in northern Cameroon on Saturday, killing at least five people.

No group claims responsibility, but attacks are in line with others launched by Boko Haram

Two dozen people were killed in Kano, northern Nigeria, in February when a pair of teenaged suicide bombers suspected to be from Boko Haram set off blasts at two bus stations. Saturday's bombings in neighbouring Cameroon were perpetrated by at least one teen, and are also believed to have been the work of Boko Haram. (EPA)

Two female suspected Boko Haram militants detonated a pair of suicide bombs in a village in northern Cameroon on Saturday, killing at least five people, security sources and an official said.

Col. Jacob Kodji said a teenager set off explosives in a local shop, killing two people, and the other attackertargeted a family.

The attacks occurred in the town of Dabanga near Cameroon's northern border with Nigeria. Kodjisaid the suicide bombers were Nigerians who came to Cameroon as refugees.

"The provisional toll is seven dead, including the two suicide bombers, as well as two soldiers injured," a senior government source told Reuters, requesting anonymity.

Kodjisaid 12 others were injured and are receiving treatment at a military camp in Mora.

No group claimed responsibility for the attacks, but they are in line with others launched by Nigeria's Boko Haram extremists.

This year Boko Haram has expanded attacks into Cameroon, Chad and Niger all countries contributing troops to a regional force intended to wipe out the extremists.

Centred in northeast Nigeria, Boko Haram is a radical Sunni Muslim group that wants to create an Islamic caliphate and impose its version of strict Sharia law and is hostile to those following the Shiite branch of the religion.

On Friday, asuspected Boko Haram suicide bomber detonated himself in the middle of a procession of hundreds of Shiite Muslims in Nigeria's second-largest city, killing 21 people and injuring dozens.

With files from Reuters