8 Killed in Nigeria’s Suicide Bombing

Local Editor

Eight people were killed and eight others injured Sunday when a female suicide bomber detonated her explosives among women and children arriving in Nigeria's northeastern city of Maiduguri.

The victims were seeking to escape Boko Haram's violence in the countryside.

However, the restive city had repeatedly been attacked by Boko Haram, which had been launching guerrilla-style attacks since being pushed out of its captured territory and camps by a Nigerian army attack.

Mohammed Kanar, a local coordinator for the National Emergency Management Agency, said the bomber in Sunday's attack was aged about 20 and struck as the group reached a checkpoint on the outskirts of Maiduguri.

There has been a wave of suicide and home-made bomb attacks against civilians in urban areas recently, particularly Maiduguri, which in October alone was hit six times, killing at least 54 people.

On Saturday, four teenage girls blew themselves up in a village in Cameroon's far north region near the border with Nigeria, killing five, including a traditional chief.

The six-year Boko Haram insurgency had forced some 2.6 million people from their homes and left at least 17,000 dead.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team