Girl aged just 11 one of two bombers linked to Islamist terror group Boko Haram
A witness describes an encounter with the suicide bombers moments before the blast in Kano
Agence France-Presse in Kano
Thursday 19 November 2015 07.37 AEDT Last modified on Thursday 19 November 2015 20.02 AEDT
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At least 15 people have been killed after two female suicide bombers, one said to be aged as young as 11, blew themselves up at a busy mobile phone market in north-east
Nigeria, a day after more than 30 were killed in a bomb blast.
Two explosions ripped through the Farm Centre market in northern Nigeria’s biggest city, Kano, shortly after 4pm on Wednesday. One of the bombers was said to be aged just 11 and the other 18.
The Islamist terror group
Boko Haram has previously used young girls as human bombs in its six-year insurgency in north-east Nigeria, which has left at least 17,000 dead and made more than 2.6 million homeless.
In July 2014, Kano was hit four times in the space of a week by a spate of young female suicide bombers, whom experts say are unlikely to be willing participants to the carnage.
“A minibus carrying some women came to the Farm Centre GSM market and dropped off one girl aged about 11 and another aged about 18, both wore the hijab,” said a Kano police spokesman.
“One went inside the market, the other stayed outside. Then they exploded, killing themselves and others nearby,” he told AFP.
“The victims were taken to hospital and it was later confirmed that 15 people died, not including the suicide bombers.”
The attacks came after
at least 32 people were killed in a bomb blast in Yola, north-east Nigeria, on Tuesday night that also bore the hallmarks of the Islamist rebels.
President
Muhammadu Buhari, who has given his military commanders until next month to crush the militants, described both attacks as “barbaric” and “cowardly”.
He called for increased vigilance to stop further attacks against “soft” targets and said the government was “very much determined to wipe out Boko Haram in Nigeria” and bring perpetrators to book.
“Nigeria’s reinvigorated, well-equipped and well-motivated armed forces and security agencies [will] overcome Boko Haram very soon,” he added.
Nafiu Mohammed, a market trader, said he was preparing for afternoon prayers when he heard an explosion “deep inside” the popular market.
“Police officers from a nearby police station mobilised to the scene while traders in confusion locked up their shops and moved out of the market,” he said.
He and a fellow trader watched at a distance as ambulances transported the victims to hospital.
Nearly 1,500 people have been killed in northern and north-east Nigeria since Buhari came to power on 29 May, according to an AFP tally.
Tuesday’s attack in Yola was the first suspected Boko Haram strike in Nigeria since a twin suicide bombing in the city on 23 October and a similar strike in the Borno state capital, Maiduguri.
A total of 27 people were killed in Yola and six in Maiduguri.
The lull suggests the military’s strategy of cutting off Boko Haram’s supply routes and targeting its camps is working, forcing the Isis affiliate to revert to guerrilla tactics.
The latest attacks have revived fears of a fresh round of carnage and police were hunting for four women in the vehicle that dropped off the young bombers at the Kano market.
Kano has been relatively spared from the violence in the last six months, a fact attributed in part to its local security networks of traditional chiefs and civilians.
On 6 July, a girl thought to be aged just 13 blew up a bomb outside a mosque in the city, killing only herself.
In November last year, at least 120 people were killed and 270 others wounded when two suicide bombers blew themselves up and gunmen opened fire during weekly prayers at Kano’s grand mosque.
The attack is thought to have been revenge for an earlier call by the emir of Kano, a traditional leader, for citizens to take up arms against the Islamist militants.
