Suicide bomber blows himself up in Damaturu after another suicide blast

A suicide attacker struck on Tuesday in Damaturu, already rocked by a separate deadly bombing just 10 minutes earlier, managing only to kill himself.

The man detonated explosives strapped to his waist after his cover was blown by fellow passengers on a tricycle on the outskirts of Damaturu in the northeastern Nigeria, a witness told AFP.

The attack came ten minutes after a child bomber killed up to six people and herself around 7:00 am (0600 GMT) outside a bus station in another part of the town, the capital of Yobe State, in the heartland of the Boko Haram Islamist insurgency.

“There were two suicide blasts in Damaturu today. The first one happened outside the motor park and the second one occurred in Pompomari on the outskirts of Damaturu. But only the bomber has died in the second blast,” said Toyin Gbadegesin, a spokesman for Yobe state police.

“In the first blast outside the motor park, six people were killed and 42 others injured by a female suicide bomber. The injured are receiving treatment in hospital.”

A witness to the second blast said passengers in a motorised rickshaw suddenly noticed they were travelling with a suicide bomber.

“When the passengers realised that the young man with them had explosives they asked the driver to stop and they all moved out. They also alerted the driver who also abandoned the tricycle,” he said, on condition of anonymity.

“The bomber got out of the tricycle and ran towards the passengers, who were standing at a distance. They scattered in different directions. He then ran towards a farmer working on his farm by the roadside.

“The fleeing passengers shouted and raised the alarm which made the farmer take to his heels, but the bomber was close. He set off his explosives while running towards the farmer. Luckily the farmer escaped with slight wounds.”