Abuja : At least seven people were killed and 27 others injured in a bomb blast in Nigeria’s northern state of Yobe.
The attack, carried out by a 10-year old female bomber on Saturday, occurred as she approached a bus station at the heart of Yobe’s capital Damaturu.
Garba Musa Fika, director of the state-run Damaturu Specialists Hospital, told the media that seven bodies were evacuated from scene of the blast. Twenty-seven others, who sustained various degrees of injury, are currently receiving treatment at the facility, he said.
According to the hospital official, seven out of the 27 wounded people “were critically injured” and might be referred to a tertiary hospital for further medical attention.
Ezekiel Ezeh, an emergency worker, who participated in the rescue work at the scene of the blast, told Xinhua news agency that more deaths might be recorded as “more than seven people” had severe burns in their bodies.
Yobe’s Governor Ibrahim Gaidam, who visited the hospital soon after the incident, condemned the bomb attack, pledging that the government would foot the medical bills of all the victims.
Saturday’s attack was the deadliest since the Nigerian military commenced a massive operation against Boko Haram militant group from the northeast of the Africa’s most populous country.