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Nigeria mosque bomb: 'Boko Haram' suicide attack kills at least 22 worshippers in Maiduguri | Nigeria mosque bomb: 'Boko Haram' suicide attack kills at least 22 worshippers in Maiduguri |
(35 minutes later) | |
A suspected Boko Haram suicide bomb attack has killed at least 22 Muslim worshippers at a mosque in Maiduguri in north-east Nigeria. | A suspected Boko Haram suicide bomb attack has killed at least 22 Muslim worshippers at a mosque in Maiduguri in north-east Nigeria. |
Rescue officials said two female suicide bombers were believed to have carried out the attack, which saw 17 other people injured. | |
One bomber blew herself up inside the mosque and the second did so outside as survivors of the first blast tried to flee. | |
Umar Usman, a worshipper who avoided the blast because he was late arriving to pray, told the Associated Press: "We were just a few meters away from the mosque when a loud bang erupted and all we could see was dark smoke and bodies littered around." | |
Co-ordinator Abba Aji, of the civilian self-defence Vigilante Group, said the mosque was in Umarari on the outskirts of Maiduguri, the command centre for the Nigerian army's military campaign against the Boko Haram group. | |
The insurgency is known for its use of female suicide bombers, and several suicide bombers have blown themselves up in recent months at roadblocks near the city. | |
Those attacks suggest the authorities have until today been successful in keeping militants away from crowded areas. | |
The last major Boko Haram assault on Maiduguri took place on 28 December, when Islamists armed with rocket-propelled grenades and multiple suicide bombers attacked indiscriminately, killing at least 50 people. | |
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