Nigeria mosque explosion kills 5, injures 35 in apparent suicide attack

A bomb exploded during prayers at a mosque in Maiduguri, northeastern Nigeria, on Wednesday evening, killing five people in what police described as a probable suicide attack.

Police said 35 people were also injured in the attack.

Nahum Daso, a spokesman for the police command in neighboring Borno state, said in a statement that fragments of a suspected suicide vest were found at the scene.

Borno State Governor Babagana Zulum condemned the attack, calling it “barbaric and inhumane”, reports Reuters news agency. In a statement, he called for increased vigilance in places of worship and public spaces during the holiday period.

The bombing was the latest in a series of attacks in Nigeria’s troubled northern region, where the country is battling several armed groups, including Boko Haram and its splinter group, the Islamic State in West Africa.

Several thousand people have been killed and millions have been displaced since 2009, according to the United Nations.

No group claimed responsibility for the latest attack, but the use of suicide bombers was widely attributed to Boko Haram, the Islamic militant group that has claimed many such attacks in the northeast region.

Analysts say the group’s use of suicide bombers has declined in recent years, but it still has the capacity to launch such attacks. In July 2024, a triple suicide attack during a wedding ceremony in Borno raised the specter of a new use of this method by the group.