YOLA, Nigeria — Two suicide bombers blew themselves up in the main market in Nigeria’s northeastern city of Yola, killing 29 people and themselves, officials said Friday, blaming the extremist Boko Haram group.
Another 38 victims, some with serious injuries, were treated in hospitals after the Thursday night explosion, Sa’ad Bello of the National Emergency Management Agency told The Associated Press.
Hundreds of thousands of people fleeing attacks by Boko Haram, an Islamic extremist group active in northeast Nigeria, have come to Yola. The suicide bombings marked the first such attack in this city.
The bombs went off as merchants were closing shop, others were hurrying to make last-minute purchases and commuters were catching tricycle taxis home.
“I can see blood splattered everywhere, including my car, but I can’t give any detail because we are all running,” bread seller Ayuba Dan Mallam said shortly after the blast.
Deputy Police Superintendent Othman Abubakar blamed Boko and said two suicide bombers were among 31 corpses recovered from the scene.
Two hours earlier, eight soldiers were killed by a suicide car bomb at a checkpoint outside a military barracks in Maiduguri, the biggest city in the northeast, located 410 kilometres (255 miles) north of Yola.