Nigeria Mosque Blast: Authorities Point to Possible Suicide Attack

Nigerian police said Thursday they suspect a suicide bomber was behind the explosion that killed at least five people the previous day in a mosque in Maiduguri, in Borno State in the country’s northeast.

A police spokesperson reported five fatalities and thirty-five injured, while the mosque’s official, Malam Abuna Yusuf, said eight people had been killed.

The bomb exploded inside the Al-Adum Juma’at mosque, which was packed with worshippers gathered for evening prayers, according to witnesses and police.

“An unidentified individual, whom we suspect belongs to a terrorist group, entered the mosque and, during the prayer, we recorded an explosion,” police spokesman Nahum Daso told the press.

In a statement released Wednesday evening, Mr. Daso said that “the incident could be a suicide attack, based on fragments recovered from what may be an explosive vest and witness statements.”