Multiple suicide bombings kill 64 in Nigeria
Suicide bombs have killed at least 64 people in multiple blasts in north-eastern Nigeria, according to officials.
The explosions hit the towns of Gombe and Damaturu, scaring people into staying home during the Muslim Eid al-Fitr celebrations, officials said.
Police said two female suicide bombers killed 12 people at prayer grounds in Damaturu.
Hours earlier two bombs killed dozens of people buying goods for the holiday at the market of Gombe town, according to the National Emergency Management Agency.
Spokesman Sani Datti said another 75 wounded are being treated in two hospitals.
Nigeria’s new army chief, Major General Tukur Buratai, was in Damaturu on a troop-boosting visit and prayed at the town’s Central Mosque.
Nigeria’s Boko Haram extremists are blamed for the latest in a string of attacks that have killed hundreds recently.
The upsurge in attacks followed a directive to create more mayhem during Ramadan from the Islamic State group, to which Boko Haram has sworn allegiance.
It also followed the May 29 inauguration of president Muhammadu Buhari, who has sworn to defeat the insurgents.
Maj Gen Tukur Buratai was appointed last week when Mr Buhari fired the entire top echelon of the military which he has accused of corruption that prevents what was once Africa’s mightiest armed force from curbing the insurgency centred in Nigeria’s north east.
Recent attacks also have included the central city of Jos and the northern cities of Kano and Zaria.
