Twin attack at mosque and market in north-east city of Mubi bears hallmarks of Islamist insurgents Boko Haram

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Suicide bombers have killed dozens of people at a mosque and a market in north-east Nigeria, in a twin attack bearing the hallmarks of Islamist insurgents Boko Haram.

The blasts happened at about 1:20pm (1220 GMT) in Mubi, a city 125 miles (200km) from the Adamawa state capital, Yola.

Adamawa state police spokesman Othman Abubakar said: “For now [the death toll] is 24,” but other sources gave far higher figures. Rescue worker Sani Kakale said: “In my presence, 42 dead bodies were taken to hospital and 68 injured.” A source at Mubi General hospital told AFP they had received 37 bodies and dozens of injured, many of them critically.



Suspicion immediately fell on Boko Haram, the jihadist group whose quest to establish a hardline Islamic state in north-east Nigeria has left at least 20,000 dead since 2009.

Mubi has been repeatedly targeted in attacks blamed on Boko Haram since it was briefly overrun by the militants in late 2014.

Profile Who are Boko Haram? Show Hide Commonly known as Boko Haram, the Islamic State in West Africa is a terrorist organisation based in Northeast Nigeria. Formed in 2002 as Jamā'atu Ahli is-Sunnah lid-Da'wati wal-Jihād meaning “Group of the people of Sunnah for Dawa and Jihad”, the term Boko Haram is loosely translated as ‘Western education is forbidden’ or ‘Western influence is a sin’. Boko Haram started an armed rebellion against the Nigerian government in 2009. Their activities have included suicide bombings and the kidnapping of female students from a college in Chibok in 2014. A mass prison break-out in 2010 swelled their ranks. Their insurgency has also spread into neighbouring Cameroon, Chad and Niger.

In 2015 a coalition of troops from those three countries, alongside Nigerian forces, mounted a concerted effort to push back against Boko Haram. For their part, since 2015, Boko Haram has aligned itself with Islamic State. The UN estimates that at least 20,000 people have been killed in the conflict to date, but that is widely held to be far below the true number. At the peak of its strength it held territory equal to the size of Belgium Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari and his generals have repeatedly declared that they have “beaten”, “defeated”, “technically defeated”, “routed” and “broken the heart and soul” of Boko Haram. Studies suggest casualties have dropped drastically in recent years. But the suicide bombings, child abductions and displacement of the local population continues. Estimates of the group’s strength vary between 4,000 and 20,000 fighters, and the number of people who have fled Boko Haram’s territory in the Lake Chad Basin is thought to be in the order of 2.4 million.

Nigeria’s government and military have long maintained that the Islamic State group affiliate is a spent force and on the verge of defeat. But there has been no let-up in attacks in the country’s north-east.

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Last Thursday, at least four people were killed when suicide bombers and fighters attempted to storm the Borno state capital, Maiduguri, raising fresh questions about security.

The Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari has been in the US this week and met his US counterpart, Donald Trump, who pledged more support in the fight against Boko Haram.

In Mubi, local volunteer Habu Saleh, who was involved in the rescue effort, described the situation as “chaos all over the place”.

“We have evacuated dozens of dead and injured people to the hospital and the rescue operation is still ongoing,” he said.

Health workers from the hospital mobilised to attend to the victims, despite being on strike over pay and conditions.

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Mubi resident Abdullahi Labaran said the first bomber mingled with worshippers who had gathered for prayers at the mosque at the edge of the market. He detonated his explosives “five minutes before the prayer started”, he added.

The second bomber blew himself up among the crowds of worshippers, traders and shoppers who fled the mosque towards a nearby market.