Nigeria Football Bombing Kills at Least 40

Local Editor

A bomb attack targeting fans at a football match in Nigeria's restive northeast killed at least 40 people Sunday, a police officer said. "

There has been a bomb explosion at a football field this evening and so far more than 40 people have been killed," said the officer who requested anonymity in the town of Mubi, which has seen previous attacks by Boko Haram extremists.

The policeman's account was confirmed by a nurse at the Mubi General Hospital, who also requested anonymity, as the health worker was not authorized to discuss the attack with the media.

Mubi is located in Adamawa state, one of three in the northeast which has been under a state of emergency for more than a year as the military has tried to crush Boko Haram's five-year uprising.

The area has been hit by far fewer Boko Haram attacks than other parts of the northeast, but the town was the site of a gruesome October 2012 massacre at a post-secondary technical college.

The policeman said the bomb exploded at roughly 6:30 pm at the pitch in Mubi's Kaban area and targeted fans as they tried to leave after watching a local club match.

It was not immediately clear if players were among the casualties, but the officer and the nurse said that most of the victims appeared to be fans.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team