On Tuesday evening of November 17th, at least 32 people were killed and 80 injured in a suicide bombing in Yola, Nigeria. The attack took place in a vegetable market along Jimeta bypass just as traders were preparing to leave for the day. No one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, but officials are blaming Boko Haram, an Islamic extremist group based in northeastern Nigeria. The attack fits a pattern of Boko Haram tactics, including detonation of bombs in crowded public areas.
A day after Yola’s attack, on the 18th, two female suicide bombers detonated suicide belts in a mobile phone market in Kano, Nigeria. One of the attackers is thought to be only 11-years-old. The attack killed at least 15 people and injured many more. Police in Kano have blocked entries and exits to the city as part of a manhunt looking for the vehicle that dropped the two girl attackers at the market. Both attacks have been condemned by United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon.
The attacks came less than a month after at least 55 people were killed in a suicide bombing in northeast Nigeria. That attack struck two mosques in different cities. Kano has also been shaken with similar attacks. In July 2014, the city suffered four attacks by young female suicide bombers.
Since the Nigerian army has taken back most of its territory captured by Boko Haram, the terrorist group has focused on attacking markets, bus stations, places of worship and carrying out hit and run attacks on villages. The group has killed more than 17,000 people, including many civilians, and displaced over 2 million internally and into neighboring countries.
To read more, visit:
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=52591#.VlL67EYYGah
http://dailypost.ng/2015/11/17/breaking-bomb-blast-hits-yola-park-market/
http://cajnewsafrica.com/2015/11/19/un-condemns-adamawa-suicide-bomb-attack/
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/11/nigeria-market-bombing-151117213718605.html
http://www.ndtv.com/world-news/female-suicide-bombers-kill-15-in-kano-north-east-nigeria-police-1244938
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/11/yola-kano-bomb-attacks-dont-lose-hope-buhari-pleads-nigerians/
