Boko Haramn, suicide bomber killed 34 people
A night-time suicide bomber killed 34 people and wounded 80 Tuesday at a truck stop in north-eastern Nigeria.
The terror attack has been linked to Boko Haram extremists.
Tuesday night’s blast breaks a three-week hiatus in bombings after a string of suicide attacks culminated in twin explosions in mosques in two north-eastern cities that killed 42 people and wounded more than 100 on Oct. 23.
One of the mosques attacked was in Yola, capital of Adamawa state, where the insurgents struck again.
The blasts were the latest by Boko Haram, Nigeria’s home-grown extremists whose 6-year insurgency has killed 20,000 and forced 2.3 million to flee their homes.
At least 34 people were killed and about 80 wounded victims were evacuated to nearby hospitals after the blast, coordinator Sa’ad Bello of the National Emergency Management Agency confirmed.
Boko Haram was named Wednesday as the world’s most deadly extremist group in the Global Terrorism Index. Deaths attributed to Boko Haram increased by 317 percent in 2014 to 6,644 compared to 6,073 blamed on the Islamic State group. Boko Haram pledged allegiance to IS in March and calls itself that group’s West Africa Province.
Who are Boko Haram?
Official Arabic name, Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad, means „People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet’s Teachings and Jihad“
- Founded in 2002
- Initially focused on opposing Western education – Boko Haram means „Western education is forbidden“ in the Hausa language
- Launched military operations in 2009 to create an Islamic state
- Thousands killed, mostly in north-eastern Nigeria – but also attacks on police and UN headquarters in capital, Abuja
- Some three million people affected
- Declared terrorist group by US in 2013
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