YAOUNDE, April 14 -- Cameroon army arrested about 30 passengers in Far North region on Saturday night over suspected links to terror group Boko Haram during an impromptu road safety inspection, the region's governor Midjiyawa Bakary said on Sunday.
According to Bakary, the passengers, mostly women and children, and their bus had no identification papers and were coming from a locality called Blangoua known for harboring Boko Haram insurgents.
"Blangoua shares boundary with Nigeria and Boko Haram militants regularly come to spend time there. There have been a number of suicide bomb incidents in the locality and many of those who committed these atrocities were women. So, soldiers were curious to see a group of women traveling without their husbands and from a place with bad reputation and decided to arrest them," Local journalist Dairou Mohammed told Xinhua.
Boko Haram used to train women to suicide bombers, partially because it is easier to hide the bomb under women's Burqa.
Bakary said that the road safety inspection was part of measures to curb insecurity that is common in the region during the period leading to major events.
"We have important events like the Labour Day, National Day (May 20) and the fasting period of Muslims all coming in May. Usually at this period, the attacks of Boko Haram increase," he told reporters.
They will be released after "thorough investigation", local authorities said.
On Friday, at least four Cameroonian soldiers died and seven others wounded in Mayo Moskota Sub-Division of the Far North region after landing on a mine planted by Boko Haram.