Cameroon plans to deploy an additional 2,000 soldiers to its Far North region after three suicide bomb attacks in the regional capital Maroua in the past week by suspected members of the Boko Haram Islamist militant group, state radio said on Monday.
The move came after authorities in the main port of Douala banned burqas as a measure to tighten security. Hawking and begging had also been banned .
According to Reuters, other measures put in place was the shut down of mosques and Islamic schools in the Far North and imposed a curfew on bars after 6 p.m. local time.
The Defense Ministry spokesman Colonel Didier Badjeck confirmed a troop increase in the Far North but declined to provide further details. Reuters reported
The suicide bomb attacks in Maroua over the past week marked the deepest incursion by suspected Boko Haram militants into Cameroonian territory.
Cameroon has already deployed some 7,000 troops, alongside soldiers from Chad, Niger and Nigeria, to tackle Boko Haram’s six-year insurgency which has threatened the stability of the Lake Chad region.
Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari is expected to hold talks with President Paul Biya on the insurgency during a two day visit to Cameroon that kicks off on Wednesday.
