2015-07-23 08:29:00

Dozens killed in bombings in Nigeria, Cameroon


(Vatican Radio)  As many as fifty people have been killed in a series of bombings in Nigeria and Cameroon.

Listen to this report by Tracey McClure:

Nigeria is reeling today after multiple bomb blasts at two major bus stations in the north eastern city of Gombe.  At least sixty people were wounded  in the explosions – suggesting the death toll may well rise further.  The first blast Wednesday evening is believed to have been detonated by a suicide bomber.  No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks but investigators say they bear the hallmarks of the militant Islamist group Boko Haram which has terrorized villages across Nigeria and neighboring countries.

Wednesday’s attacks follow a similar blast last week in Gombe that killed 49 people at a crowded market.

Also Wednesday, at least 11 people perished in nearby Cameroon when two young girls blew themselves up at a market in Maroua in the north.

Maroua hosts the Cameroonian army’s base for operations against Boko Haram.  Cameroon is part of a multinational force battling the militants in neighbouring parts of Nigeria.

Boko Haram has stepped up suicide bombings in recent weeks after the losing territory to the military forces.

Since launching its uprising in 2009, Boko Haram has killed at least 17,000 people, most of them civilians.

The group is still holding many women, girls and children captive, including 219 schoolgirls it kidnapped from a school in Chibok in April last year.








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