Nigeria: Boko Haram mosque attack leaves 22 dead and 18 wounded

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Nigeria: Boko Haram mosque attack leaves 22 dead and 18 wounded

11:20 CAT | 18 Mar 2016

Reuters

Two female suicide bombers attacked a mosque in the northern Nigerian town of Maiduguri on Wednesday, killing twenty-two worshippers and leaving eighteen wounded.

The chief imam of Umarari mosque told BBC Hausa that the bombs exploded as early prayers were beginning. The first bomb exploded inside the mosque, while the second went off outside as worshippers attempted to escape.

“We were just a few meters away from the mosque when a loud bang erupted and all we could see was dark smoke and bodies littered around”, a witness told the Associated Press news agency.

The bombs left only the shell of the mosque standing. Boko Haram has broadened its targets to include Muslims who oppose the group’s violent ideology.

Boko Haram was founded in 2002 and militarized its operations in 2009. It has sworn allegiance to Islamic State, and threatens to take control of north-eastern Nigeria.

The efforts to halt the group’s operations in Nigeria and neighboring countries have been strenuous, with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari declaring last December that the war on Boko Haram had “technically [been won]”.

Source: BBC