Female suicide bomber kills many at Maiduguri market in northeastern Nigeria

Gamboru market is the second-largest in Maiduguri, capital of Borno state and birthplace of Boko Haram.

Boko Haram has been carrying out a bloody campaign of terrorism in its quest to turn Nigeria into an Islamic caliphate.

A suicide bomber struck a crowded market in the northeastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri on Friday, killing six people, the national Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said, in an attack that bore the hallmarks of Islamist militant group Boko Haram. “Thank God I was not too close”, he said.

Early rising petty grocery traders usually make wholesale purchase from local farmers at the Gamboru market. “But I saw nauseating corpses and battered bodies of humans littering the ground”. Boko Haram has carried out a string of such assaults in the area that have killed hundreds in recent weeks. Most bombings have involved women or girls as young as 10, raising fears that the extremists are using kidnap victims as weapons.

“We took seven dead bodies, including that of the female bomber to the hospital”.

Boko Haram’s insurgency has claimed at least 15,000 lives and displaced more than 1.5 million people since 2009.

In a move toward activating the force, Nigeria announced on Thursday the appointment of Major General Iliya Abbah as its commander, but significant military operations appear unlikely before the end of the rainy season in September.

President Muhammadu Buhari this week visited neighboring Cameroon to bolster support for the 8,700-strong, four-nation army to curb the uprising that has spilled across borders.

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