Bombs kill 25 in north-east Nigeria

SUSPECTED members of a radical Islamist sect threw bombs at a drinking spot in Nigeria’s north-eastern town of Maiduguri yesterday, killing around 25 people, witnesses and military sources said.

The attackers — who the military said were suspected members of the Boko Haram sect — threw three sets of explosives from the back of motorbikes at around 5pm local time and appeared to be targeting police officers, witnesses said.

The National Emergency Management Agency said it was working with other rescue teams to evacuate the injured but gave no further details.

Insecurity in parts of northern Nigeria has rapidly replaced militant attacks on oil infrastructure hundreds of kilometres away in the southern Niger Delta as the main security threat in Africa’s most populous nation in recent months.

* Reuters