Bombing kills five during prayers at Maiduguri mosque
A bomb exploded during prayers at a mosque in Nigeria’s northeastern city of Maiduguri on Wednesday night, killing five people in what police described as a likely suicide attack, reports BritPanorama.
Authorities confirmed that 35 people were also injured in the attack.
Nahum Daso, spokesperson for the police command in the surrounding state of Borno, stated that fragments of a suspected suicide vest were found at the site.
The bombing is the latest in a series of attacks in Nigeria’s troubled northern region, where the country is battling multiple armed groups, including Boko Haram and its splinter group, Islamic State West Africa Province.
According to the United Nations, several thousand people have been killed, with millions displaced from their homes since 2009.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but the use of suicide bombers has been heavily attributed to Boko Haram, the Islamic militant group that has previously claimed many such attacks across the northeastern region.
While analysts note that the group’s use of suicide bombers has subsided in recent years, they emphasize that Boko Haram still retains the capacity to launch such attacks. In July 2024, a three-pronged suicide attack on a wedding ceremony in Borno raised the specter of a renewed use of the method by the militant group.
This latest incident underscores the ongoing challenges faced by security forces in the region as they attempt to combat violent extremism.
