At least 60 people were killed in twin suicide blasts at a mosque and a market in Nigeria’s Mubi town on Tuesday, reported AFP. The blasts were reportedly carried out by some young boys around 1 pm local time (5.30pm IST) when the afternoon prayer was underway at the mosque.
The toll is likely to rise as more bodies could be recovered from the site of the blasts, said residents of Mubi, according to news daily AllAfrica. “Before I left the cemetery I took part in the burial of 68 people,” a person called Muhammad Hamidu told AFP. “More bodies were being brought by families of the victims.”
Another resident of the town, Abdullahi Labaran, said there were 73 freshly dug graves. “There are still unclaimed bodies at the hospital.”
Imam Garki, who works with the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), said a joint assessment with police and Red Cross found that 26 people were killed and 56 were injured. A medical source at the Mubi General Hospital said they had received 37 bodies. Sani Kakale, a rescue worker, said he had counted 42 bodies and 68 injured were taken to the hospital.
“While people were evacuating the victims of the first blast, another explosion occurred”, a police spokesperson in Adamawa state where Mubi is located, said according to another local daily, the Premium Times.
Although no group has claimed responsibility for the explosions, locals believe the jihadist group Boko Haram was behind the attack. The blasts come a day after Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari met United States President Donald Trump and discussed the threat that the terror group poses in the region.
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