Boko Haram bomb attack kills 31 in Borno State

At least 31 people have been killed in a twin suicide bomb attack by suspected Boko Haram fighters on a town in Borno State, Reuters reports.


Two blasts ripped through the Damboa government area in Borno state on Saturday evening targeting people returning from celebrating the Eid al-Fitr holiday.

Following the suicide bombings, the attackers fired rocket-propelled grenades into the crowds that had gathered at the scene of the blasts, driving the number of casualties higher, Reuters say.

"There were two suicide attacks and rocket-propelled grenade explosions in Damboa last night which killed 31 people and left several others injured," Babakura Kola, from the Civilian Joint Task Force, a militia assisting the military with security, told AFP today.


There was no immediate claim of responsibility but the attack bore all the hallmarks of Boko Haram; a group waging an armed campaign in Nigeria for nearly a decade.

The blasts on Saturday occurred in the Shuwari and Abachari districts of the local government area, which is about 90km from state capital Maiduguri.