About 60 persons were killed and 68 others injured as twin-bomb explosions on Tuesday rocked a mosque in Mubi, Adamawa State, North-east of Nigeria while the worshippers were holding the Zuhr (afternoon) prayer.
Eyewitnesses said the death toll is expected to rise from the attacks which have always come from the Boko Haram terror sect.
However, the Adamawa Government only confirmed 27 dead and 56 injured from Tuesday’s twin blasts
The state Commissioner of Information and Strategy, Ahmad Sajoh, made this known in a statement made available to NAN in Yola.
The statement said that the 56 injured persons were on admission in hospital.
Sajoh said the blast occurred in Kasuwan Gwanjo (second hand clothes market) and a mosque within the market.
“While condemning the satanic, cowardly and dastardly act, His Excellency Sen. Mohammed Umar Jibrilla Bindow, the executive Governor of Adamawa State, had ordered the immediate provision of medical supplies and mobilization of medical officers to the general hospital in Mubi.
“In addition, the Adamawa State Emergency Management Agency (ADSEMA) had been ordered to supply food and non-food items to the hospital to cater for victims and victims relations.”
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” at about 1:20 pm (1220 GMT).
The second bomber blew himself up among the crowds of worshippers, traders and shoppers who fled the mosque towards the butchery section of a nearby market.
This is not the first time a suicide bomber is attacking a mosque in Mubi. The town is some 200 kilometres (125 miles) by road from Yola.
It has been repeatedly targeted in deadly attacks blamed on Boko Haram since it was briefly overrun by the militant group in late 2014.
On November 21, 2017 at least 50 people were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up in a mosque during early morning prayers in the Unguwar Shuwa area of Mubi.
In October 2012, at least 40 people were killed in an attack on student housing in Mubi that was widely blamed on Boko Haram.
In June 2014, at least 40 football supporters, including women and children, died in a bomb attack after a match in the Kabang area of the town.
