Africa

Africa

Boko Haram suspected after 14 killed in NE Nigeria suicide blasts

08 October 2015 02:11 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. At least 14 people were killed in three separate suicide bomb attacks in northeast Nigeria on Wednesday, with suspicion falling on radical Islamist group Boko Haram after a string of similar strikes in recent months, APA reports quoting AFP.

The triple blasts in the Yobe state capital, Damaturu, came after the militants this week claimed to have carried out three suicide attacks near Abuja last Friday that left 18 dead.

Damaturu has been repeatedly attacked during the insurgency. Last month, a girl thought to be aged 12 killed six when the explosives she was carrying went off outside a bus station.

Bashir Idris Garga, Yobe state coordinator at the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), said the first blast Wednesday happened at a small food store on a housing estate, killing four.

Another near a mosque killed one, while nine, including a family, lost their lives when another bomber struck a Fulani settlement on the outskirts of the city.

Ten other people were injured, three of them critically, Garga said. Yobe governor Ibrahim Gaidam called the attacks "cowardly and barbaric" and urged improvements in surveillance.

State police spokesman Toyin Gbadegesin told AFP "gun-wielding bombers" carried out the attacks between 5:30 and 6:00 am (0400 to 0500 GMT) before the night-time curfew was lifted.