Suspected terrorist explosion in northern Togo kills 7 children

DOUALA, Cameroon

Seven children were killed in a suspected terrorist explosion in northern Togo in the night from Saturday to Sunday, local media reported.

"A rescue team was immediately dispatched to the scene," said Motaog Radio and Television in Dapaong, the town where the explosion occurred.

The local radio quoted a victim's parent as saying he was shocked and that he heard "a loud explosion never heard before."

He discovered children's bodies lying on the ground which he said were difficult to identify.

No official source has yet commented on the incident.

The incident may join a list of terrorist attacks seen in recent months in the West African country, which had previously been spared.

On June 16, an attack was foiled in the Gnoaga and Gouloungoushi townships, on the border shared by Togo, Ghana and Burkina Faso in the far north.

An attack on the night of May 10 left eight soldiers dead and 13 wounded. An Al-Qaeda affiliated terrorist group claimed responsibility for it three weeks later, according to the Site Intelligence Group, an American NGO which tracks extremist threats online.

"Once these attacks start, they don't stop," Joseph Mensah-Boboe, the publisher of online media outlet Imagine Demain, told Anadolu Agency. "This is a new terrorist action despite the strong security method of the government, which has established a state of emergency and its corollaries. This situation is worrying."