Security forces armed with guns and arrows killed two young women wearing explosive vests in a north Cameroon town on Monday, the second raid there in days by suspected Boko Haram militants from neighboring Nigeria, witnesses said.

The would-be suicide bombers, described as adolescent girls, entered Kolofata just before dawn, residents and officials told Reuters.

“The first kamikaze (suicide bomber) exploded near my house … When she entered, the local vigilance committee fired an arrow at her head and she set off her bomb,” said resident Bahoua, who declined to give his full name.

Self-defense groups have sprung up across north Cameroon and are overseen by the army.

The other young woman was shot by special forces, known by their French initials BIR, one of the sources said. There were no reports of anyone else being killed or wounded in the town about 10 km (6 miles) from the Nigerian border, said locals.

Credit: Reuters