A bombing attack targeting Muslim prayer grounds in Nigeria's
northeastern Yobe state killed nine people and injured 18, an army spokesman
said.
An elderly woman
and a 10-year-old girl carried the explosives used in the attack.
They detonated
their devices at screening areas set up by security forces outside two sites
where worshippers were gathering for prayers in the town of Damaturu, Col. Sani
Kukasheka Usman said.
Police spokesman
Gbadegesin Joshua Toyin had earlier said at least 12 people were killed in the
blasts as well as the two attackers.
A day earlier,
two simultaneous bombings ripped through a market in the city of Gombe, capital
of neighboring Gombe state, killing at least 48 people and injuring 58 others,
a Red Cross official said.
One of the
blasts was caused by a female suicide bomber, the other by a bomb hidden at the
market, the official said.
The deadly
attacks struck a region where violence blamed on the Islamic militant group Boko Haram has killed hundreds of people in
recent weeks.
Highway barricaded
No group has so far claimed
responsibility for the latest attacks. But Boko Haram terrorists have
previously carried out suicide and bombing attacks on bus stations and markets
in Gombe and other northern cities.
Damaturu, which
is about 185 kilometers (115 miles) northeast of Gombe, has repeatedly found
itself the target of attacks tied to Boko Haram in the past.
Earlier this
week, gunmen barricaded a highway that links Damaturu to another town and
killed more than 20 motorists, a lawmaker said.
Security forces
responded immediately to Friday's blasts in Damaturu, and the situation is
"currently under control," an army statement said.
"The Yobe
State Governor, Ibrahim Geidam and the Chief of Army Staff, Major General Tukur
Yusuf Buratai have (sympathized) with the victims and the people of the state
and urged residents to stay calm and be security conscious at all times,"
it said.
Deadly insurgency
Boko Haram, which has pledged allegiance to the
Islamist extremist group ISIS, appears to have intensified its campaign of
brutal violence in northern and central Nigeria recently.
The Nigerian
military has been unable to put a stop to the frequent raids and bombings.
Boko Haram has
been leading a ruthless, deadly insurgency for more than a decade, pushing to
bring an extreme version of Islamic law, or Sharia, to the masses.
The government
of Nigerian President Muhammadu
Buhari -- who took office in May, pledging to step
up the fight against the terrorist group -- said recently it would be open to
talks with the militants at some stage.
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