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| - A suicide bomber killed seven civilians in a village in Cameroon's northern tip bordering Nigeria, the United Nations and a police official said Thursday. The police officer said Tuesday's bombing followed a Boko Haram raid on a village, adding: "The people fled and a young man strapped with explosives chased them and blew himself up." The UN High Commissioner for Refugees said it "firmly condemns this attack which killed seven civilians and wounded 14 others in Kouyape village. "The suicide bomb attack took place near Kolofata, close to the border with Nigeria, where some 18,000 internally displaced people have sought safety over the past seven years," the refugee agency said. Cameroon's Far North, an impoverished strip of land between Chad and Nigeria, has been a regular target of raids and assaults by Boko Haram since 2013. The jihadist group launched its insurgency in Nigeria in 2009 before spilling over into neighbours Cameroon, Niger and Chad. It has killed more than 30,000 people, forcing three million to flee their homes, according to the UN. "We are horrified by these senseless attacks on people who have been torn from their villages, fleeing violence perpetrated by armed gangs which rage in the region, only to be stripped of safety again after they just found refuge elsewhere," said Olivier Guillaume Beer, UNHCR Representative in Cameroon. "The killing of innocent civilians has to stop," he said. "We call on armed groups to respect the rights and lives of civilian populations." Boko Haram has staged nearly 90 attacks in Cameroon since January. rek-gir/ach/pvh
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