Two more girl suicide bombers hit north Nigeria town
Boko Haram believed to be behind latest in a wave of attacks featuring children fitted with explosives as President Jonathan Goodluck prepares for elections next month
The leader of the Islamist extremist group Boko Haram delivering a speech Photo: AFP
By Reuters
12:45AM GMT 12 Jan 2015
Two suspected child suicide bombers blew themselves up in a market in north-east Nigeria on Sunday, witnesses said, killing three people in the second apparent attack in two days using young girls strapped with explosives.
The blasts struck around mid-afternoon at an open market selling mobile phones in the town of Potiskum in Yobe state, which has frequently been attacked by the jihadist group Boko Haram.
A trader at the market, Sani Abdu Potiskum, said the bombers were about 10 years old. "I saw their dead bodies. They are two young girls of about 10 years of age ... you only see the plaited hair and part of the upper torso," the trader said.
A source at the Potiskum general hospital said three people had been killed, excluding the bombers, while 46 were injured.
The town was hit by a suicide bomber in November when at least 48 people, mainly students, were killed during a school assembly. On Saturday, a bomb exploded at a police station in Potiskum.
Sunday's explosions came a day after a bomb strapped to a girl aged about 10 years old exploded in a busy market place in the Nigerian city of Maiduguri, killing at least 16 people and injuring more than 20, security sources said.
Boko Haram has been waging a five year insurgency to establish an Islamic state in the north-east of the country and the army's inability to quash the movement is a headache for President Goodluck Jonathan, who is seeking re-election in February.
Last year more than 10,000 people died in the violence, according to an estimate by the Council on Foreign Relations
The military lost ground in worst-hit Borno state last weekend after insurgents took over the town of Baga and nearby army base, killing over 100 people and forcing thousands to flee. The defence headquarters said on Saturday that the army was regrouping to retake the area.
In all, the jihadist group controls about 20,000 square miles of territory - an area the size of Belgium - which it runs as a mini Islamic state.
In the city of Jos in Plateau state, Mr Jonathan's campaign team was hit by two days of violence.
The driver of a campaign vehicle was killed on Sunday by youths who also set fire to a police station, said Abu Sunday Emmanuel, police spokesman. On Saturday, two other campaign vehicles were burnt.
