Scores of people were feared killed Monday when two female suicide bombers attacked a busy motor park in Madagali town of Adamawa State.
The blast came a day after the army fought Boko Haram militants west of Maiduguri, capital of Borno state and birthplace of their campaign to create an Islamic state in the northeast of Africa’s most populous country.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility but the blast bore the hallmarks of Boko Haram, whose insurgency has killed thousands and displaced some 2.1 million people in the region.
Monday’s blast happened in a western suburb where the army had exchanged fire on Sunday with suspected Boko Haram fighters who it said had tried to slip into Maiduguri to stage suicide bombings. Residents then reported explosions and heavy gunfire.
Musa Abdukadir, a resident, said that after the mosque attack, he had counted the bodies of more than 50 victims in the state specialist hospital in Maiduguri. Medics had told him more bodies had been brought to two other hospitals. The count included victims from Sunday’s fighting.
“We all fled yesterday as our houses were on fire. This morning, we came back, and while we were counting the people who had burned in the houses, another bomb exploded,” said Ibrahim Goni, a resident who said he had visited the blast scene.
A witness, Danladi Buba, said the two female suicide bombers detonated bombs at a mini market near a motor park around 9am, killing many people.
“About 30 people were killed with 16 others injured,” Mr. Buba said.
When contacted, the Brigade Commander of 28 Task Force Brigade, Mubi, Victor Ezugwu, confirmed the incident, saying the casualty figure was yet to be established.
“Two female suicide bombers struck at a garage in Madagali and detonated their devices, and we lost some beloved country men,” Mr. Ezugwu, a brigadier-general, said.
He said the injured had been taken to hospital while the military had cordoned off the area.
The brigade commander said the situation had been brought under control.
The attack followed a series of gun and bomb attacks, between Sunday and Monday, by suspected Boko Haram militants on Maiduguri, the capital of neighbouring Borno State.
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