Nigeria: 5 injured near mosque by suicide bomb attack

By Olarewaju Kola

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria

Five people were injured Saturday when two suicide attackers blew themselves up outside a mosque in a northeastern Nigerian city.

The two female suicide bombers targeting a mosque at Juddumuri near a Federal Court in Maiduguri during early morning prayers were prevented by worshippers and so detonated their bombs outside, said police spokesman Victor Isuku.

"They were intercepted and prevented by the Muslim worshippers. In the process, one of them detonated her IED (improvised explosive device) vest, killing both of them and injuring five other people," the police said in a statement.

He said the injured were taken to a nearby public hospital for treatment.

Nobody has claimed responsibility, though residents in the area blamed Boko Haram, which has carried out similar bomb attacks in recent years.

The group, which seeks to carve out a so-called “caliphate” in northern Nigerian, has been engaged in nearly seven years of violent attacks on the Nigerian state, including using abducted teenage girls for suicide bombing on soft targets.

During a quarterly conference with army commanders last week, Nigerian army chief Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai announced the deployment of bomb-sniffing dogs around Maiduguri.