A blast set off by a female suicide bomber tore through a crowded market in the northeastern Nigerian city of Damaturu on Sunday, killing 19 people and wounding 47, the emergency response agency said.
No one claimed responsibility for the explosion but it is the latest attack in the last few weeks that bear the hallmarks of militant Islamist group Boko Haram.
Hundreds of people have been killed in bombings and shootings across northern Nigeria since Muhammadu Buhari, who has promised to crush the group, was inaugurated as president on May 29.
“The death toll has gone up to 19 dead and 47 injured,” National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) spokesman Mohammed Kanar said.
The attack took place six days after a suicide bomber killed three policemen at a checkpoint on the outskirts of the city. And earlier this month at least nine people were killed in the city by a female suicide bomber as worshippers gathered to mark the Muslim holiday Eid al-Fitr.
Boko Haram controlled a swathe of land around the size of Belgium at the end of 2014 but have been pushed out of most of that territory by Nigerian troops in the last few months, with military help from neighbouring Chad, Niger and Cameroon.
Since then the militants have carried out attacks in the north and neighbouring countries.
At least 19 people were killed in a suicide bombing in the northern Cameroonian town of Maroua on Saturday.
Since becoming president, Buhari has made a number of changes aimed at tackling the insurgency, including the replacement of his defence chiefs.
He moved Nigeria’s defence command centre to Maiduguri, the birthplace of the jihadi sect, and has worked with counterparts in neighbouring countries to set up a multinational force with headquarters in Chad’s capital, N’Djamena. Reuters
