Schoolgirl suicide bombers kill 30 people in a Nigerian market

Dozens injured as pair detonate explosive belts

YOLA, NIGERIA // Two schoolgirls killed 30 people and wounded dozens more in a suicide bomb attack at a market in Nigeria yesterday. “The attack in the town of Madagali was carried out by two female schoolchildren,” said Maj Badare Akintoye, a spokesman for an army unit in the nearby town of Mubi. “They detonated two bombs at the same time, killing 30 people.”

He said 57 people were injured in the Adamawa state bombings.

The attack on Madagali, which was recaptured by Nigerian forces from Boko Haram last year, was the third time the town had been targeted since December, when another attack by two female suicide bombers killed scores of people.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the latest attack, but the blasts bore the hallmarks of Boko Haram, which regularly uses women and young girls to carry out suicide attacks.

The group also targets crowded areas in attacks across northeast Nigeria and in neighbouring Cameroon and Niger. “The bombers, who were disguised as customers, detonated suicide belts at the section of the market selling grains and second-hand clothing,” said Yusuf Muhammad, chairman of the local Madagali government. Market trader Habu Ahmad said the blasts happened at about 9.30am. “There were dead bodies and wounded people in the midst of blood, spilt grains and abandoned personal effects,” he said. The bombing came after Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari told a security conference in Senegal on Wednesday that the situation in the region was “under control”. Boko Haram wants to impose a hardline Sharia system in Nigeria’s mainly Muslim north.

Its campaign has resulted in the deaths of at least 20,000 people and the displacement of about 2.6 million since 2009.