Two girls blew themselves up on Monday near a crowded mosque in northeast Nigeria’s biggest city, killing about 30 people, witnesses said.
It is the fourth suicide bombing this month in Maiduguri, which is the birthplace of the Boko Haram Islamic extremist group.
Fishmonger Idi Idrisa said one teenager exploded as she approached the mosque crowded with people from the nearby Baga Road fish market, performing afternoon prayers during the holy month of Ramadan.
The second teen appeared to run away and blew up further away, killing only herself, he said.
Civilian defense fighter Sama Ila Abu said he counted at least 30 corpses as he helped collect the dead.
Both men said said there were many injured.
Boko Haram has kidnapped hundreds and hundreds of girls and women and the numbers of female suicide bombers has raised fears that it is using the captives in its campaign.
A military bomb disposal expert has told the AP that most bombs carried by girls and women have remote detonation devices, meaning the carrier cannot control the explosion.
Boko Haram has stepped up attacks since Nigeria’s new President Muhammadu Buhari announced the military command center is moving from the capital Abuja to Maiduguri in Borno State.
The attacks come as Nigeria and its neighbors are preparing to strengthen a multinational army that this year drove Boko Haram out of towns and villages where it had set up a so-called Islamic caliphate.
But bombings and hit-and-run attacks have continued, along with cross-border raids.
On Thursday, a group of the extremists attacked two towns in neighboring Niger, killing at least 40 people, the government said.
In its first attack on Chad, suicide bombers a week ago attacked two buildings including the national police academy in N’Djamena, killing at least 33 people.
President Muhammadu Buhari has vowed to subdue the sect.He has already directed that the military command centre be relocated to Maiduguri and the Defence Headquarters has confirmed that it had commenced the movement as directed.
Monday’s attacks came just as reports emerged that the new president also received briefings from the security chiefs at the presidential villa ,Abuja,in his first day there since the May 29 inauguration.
Since taking over from President Jonathan, President Buhari has put the battle against Boko Haram on the front burner.
He has visited Niger and Chad as part of a renewed attempt to rally the neighbouring countries for a more coordinated war against the terrorists.
Buhari has also championed a reform of the Multinational Joint Task Force, MNJTF which now has a Nigerian Commander.On Buhari’s insistence, Nigeria will continue to henceforth produce the commander until the end of the MNJTF mission.
But Boko Haram has, however ,remained unrelenting as it has repeatedly succeeded in launching attacks on soft targets despite the military’s concerted attempts to crush the sect from the Sambisa Forest.
web reports
