At least 14 killed in suicide attack in north Cameroon

YAOUNDE (Reuters) - At least 14 people were killed, including the suicide bomber, in an attack in the northern Cameroonian town of Maroua on Saturday, a local official said, just three days after twin bombings there suspected to have been carried out by Boko Haram. Residents said the female bomber struck at a bar in the Pont Vert neighbourhood, close to a bridge crossing a river that runs next to the town, at around 7.50 p.m. local time (1850 GMT). "So far, there are already 14 dead including the woman herself," said the local government official, who was at the scene of the bombing with police and military officers. Cameroonian state television said the bomber was a teenage girl. One resident told Reuters it appeared that the toll could be as high as 30 dead and 60 wounded as the bar had been crowded at the time. There was no official confirmation of this but a military official told Reuters there appeared to be about 20 dead and 40 wounded. Twin suicide bombings on Wednesday killed at least 13 people and wounded 32 others in what appeared to be Boko Haram's deepest incursion from neighbouring Nigeria. No-one has claimed responsibility for either Wednesday's or Saturday's strikes but Boko Haram has stepped up attacks on the countries bordering its northeast Nigerian stronghold - Chad, Niger and Cameroon - following a regional offensive against it earlier this year. (Reporting by Sylvain Andzongo and Josiane Kouagheu; Writing by Daniel Flynn, Editing by Catherine Evans and Angus MacSwan)