Nigeria Attacks: Mosque Bomb Blasts Kill Dozens in Mubi

BBC - At least 27 people have been killed in suicide bomb blasts in the north-east Nigerian town of Mubi.

Some reports suggest the death toll could be as high as 42, with dozens more injured.

The explosions happened in and around a mosque as Muslims were preparing for afternoon prayers.

No-one has yet said they were behind the bombings, but the Islamist militant group Boko Haram has launched previous attacks in Mubi.

Boko Haram has waged a campaign of violence since 2009 to try to create an Islamic state in northern Nigeria.

The violence has killed about 20,000 people and displaced more than two million.

Reuters new agency quotes Mubi General Hospital's chief medical director Ezra Sakawa as saying 27 people were killed and 56 injured.

Other sources at the same hospital give higher casualty figures.

State police commissioner Abdullahi Yerima said the first blast took place at the mosque at about 13:00 (12:00 GMT) and a second bomber detonated a device nearby as worshippers fled.

Witness Abdullahi Labaran said the first bomber had mingled with worshippers and detonated his explosives shortly before prayers began.

He said people in the mosque then fled towards a market where the second bomber struck.

Mubi has suffered regular attacks by Boko Haram. Last November more than 50 people were killed when suspected militants detonated a suicide bomb inside a mosque in the same town.

And in April, the militants killed more than a dozen people in the nearby northern town of Maiduguri in Borno state.

The group is known to target mosques whose preachers disagree with its views.

The latest attacks come as President Muhammadu Buhari visits Washington for talks with his US counterpart Donald Trump.

The Nigerian government is buying 12 fighter aircraft from the US, and President Trump has indicated that a further order for attack helicopters is in the pipeline.

"These new aircraft will improve Nigeria's ability to target terrorists and protect civilians," Mr Trump told a joint news conference on Monday.

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