Bomb blast rocks mosque in Potiskum

A botched suspected Boko Haram suicide attack targeting a group of Shiite Muslims injured three people in northeast Nigeria on Monday, witnesses told AFP.

The would-be bomber detonated his explosives a few metres (yards) from an open-air mosque in the Dogo Tebo area of Potiskum shortly after afternoon prayers.

“Three worshippers were hit by shrapnel and sustained mild injuries while the bomber’s thighs and legs were blown off,” said local resident Mukhtar Ubale in an account supported by two others.

Another resident who witnessed the explosion, Zakari Kabiru, said the bomber, thought to be aged about 30, was taken to hospital but his chances of survival were slim.

“Only his torso was intact but the lower parts of his body were shattered,” he said, blaming the Sunni jihadist group Boko Haram for the attack.

Boko Haram, whose insurgency to create a hardline Islamic state in northeast Nigeria has killed at least 15,000 since 2009, condemns Shias as heretics who should be killed.

The group has carried out several suicide and bombing attacks on Potiskum, which is the commercial hub of Yobe state and one of the worst hit by the violence.

Credit: PM News