A suicide bomber, who disguised as a beggar has killed a young student and a woman in an attack on a market full of Christmas shoppers.

The bomb also killed the attacker and wounded five other persons.

The attack happened in the northern Cameroon town of Mora, a day after Nigeria proclaimed a total victory against the Boko Haram insurgents.

An aide to the governor of Far North region, Midjiyawa Bakary. confirmed the fresh attack on Sunday.

“The suicide bomber was pretending to be a beggar and was walking towards the market which was full because of Christmas. Members of a vigilance committee spotted him before he could penetrate the market,” a Cameroonian soldier told Reuters.

“He was stopped and in panic he detonated his explosives. If he hadn’t been spotted the death toll would have been higher,” he said.

In the past, suicide bombers suspected of belonging to the Islamist militant group Boko Haram had launched attacks on the town, which lies about 30 km (20 miles) from the Nigerian border.

Fighters from Boko Haram have killed thousands in their campaign to carve out an Islamist state in their base in northeast Nigeria and have also launched attacks in neighbouring Chad, Niger and Cameroon.

The group has frequently used female bombers and children to hit targets.

Similar attacks used to happen on an almost daily basis in Cameroon, but the International Crisis Group reported this month that the frequency had fallen since September, leading analysts to believe Boko Haram was weakening there.

•Scene of a suicide bomb attack.