Explosion rocks crowded mosque in Nigeria, killing several: reports | News from armed groups

The explosion ripped through a mosque in Maiduguri as worshipers gathered for evening prayers, witnesses said.

An explosion ripped through a mosque in northeast Nigeria as worshipers gathered for evening prayers, killing and injuring several people, according to media reports.

The explosion took place around 6 p.m. (5 p.m. GMT) on Wednesday in the town of Maiduguri in Borno state, news agencies Reuters and AFP reported, citing witnesses.

Police spokesperson Nahum Daso confirmed the explosion and told AFP that an explosive ordnance team was already on scene at Maiduguri’s Gamboru Market Mosque.

There was no official information on casualties.

But the head of the mosque, Malam Abuna Yusuf, told AFP that at least eight people had died, while a militia leader, Babakura Kolo, put the figure at seven.

Another witness, Musa Yusha’u, told AFP he saw “many victims being taken for medical treatment”.

The cause of the explosion was not immediately known, but it occurred in a town that has been at the heart of an armed rebellion led by Boko Haram and the IS branch in the region, the Islamic State West Africa Province, for nearly two decades.

The conflict has killed at least 40,000 people and displaced around two million from their homes since 2009, according to the United Nations.

Although violence has declined since its peak a decade ago, it has spread to neighboring Niger, Chad and Cameroon.

Concerns are also growing about a resurgence of violence in parts of the northeast, where armed groups remain capable of launching deadly attacks despite years of sustained military operations.

Maiduguri itself – once the scene of nighttime fighting and bombings – has been quiet in recent years, with the last major attack recorded in 2021.