Two dead in suicide bombing in Cameroon mosque

Yaound - Two people were killed on Monday when a suicide bomber attacked a mosque in far northern Cameroon, a region that has been shaken by attacks blamed on Nigeria's Boko Haram jihadists, sources said.

"A suicide bomber blew himself up this morning in a mosque in Kerawa," on the border with Nigeria, a regional security official reached by AFP said.

"Two civilians and the bomber were killed," the source said, confirming an account by an eyewitness, who said the event took place shortly after morning prayers, when the mosque was relatively empty.

Boko Haram's insurgency, begun in 2009, has progressively spread from Nigeria to Cameroon, Niger and Chad.

Overall, it has left at least 20 000 people dead and more than 2.6 million others homeless.

The death toll in Cameroon is around 2 000 while about 170 000 have been displaced, according to the Brussels-based research organisation the International Crisis Group (ICG).