By David E. Hubler
Contributor, EDM Digest
The Islamist militant group Boko Haram is being blamed for a suicide bombing that occurred early Tuesday. The bombing killed at least 50 worshipers at a mosque in northeastern Nigeria.
The Guardian reported that a teenage suicide bomber blew himself up during morning prayers at the mosque in Mubi, a town in Adamawa state. “The group has used children as young as five to carry out hundreds of attacks on busy marketplaces, checkpoints and mosques in the past few years,” the British newspaper said.
Bombing Victims Were All Men and Boys
A police spokesman, Othman Abubakar, told reporters that the death toll was at least 50 people. However, a reporter on the scene said the death toll was no more than 27, all men and boys.
The hospital in Mubi does not have enough blood for all the injured and has appealed for donations.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari condemned the bombing as “cruel and dastardly,” the Voice of America reported.
In a statement, the president’s office said the government would do “everything required to secure the state from the deadly menace of Boko Haram.”
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the bombing resembled numerous prior suicide attacks carried out by Boko Haram, VOA added.
Boko Haram has killed more than 20,000 people during its eight-year insurgency against the Nigerian government to create a strict Islamic state in northern Nigeria, which is primarily Muslim.
In late 2014, Boko Haram briefly occupied Mubi in its quest to establish a hardline Islamic state. During the occupation, the town’s name was changed temporarily to Madinatul Islam, or “City of Islam” in Arabic.
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