Nigeria bombing death toll rises to 18: Source
The death toll from a recent bomb explosion in Nigeria's northeastern city of Maiduguri has reached 18, a source says.
"We retrieved 18 dead bodies from the scene and many people with injuries," Danlami Ajaokuta, a civilian assisting the Nigerian military in its fight against Boko Haram militants, told AFP on Thursday.
The bodies of at least six people were recovered in the immediate aftermath of the blast on Wednesday, Ajaokuta said, warning that the toll could still "rise further."
Ajaokuta said that "many people" were also wounded in the explosion which occurred on Maiduguri's Baga Road due to explosives left near a garage opposite a military unit.
Although there has been no claim of responsibility for the blast, such attacks often bear the hallmark of Boko Haram militants as a spate of bombings in Maiduguri by the terrorists has left some 80 people dead in the last few days.
Four nations of the Lake Chad Basin - Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria - launched a joint campaign back in February, together with a contingent from Benin, to confront the threat from Boko Haram in the region.
Boko Haram, whose name means “Western education is forbidden,” has claimed responsibility for a number of deadly attacks in different parts of Nigeria since the beginning of its militancy in 2009, which has so far left over 13,000 people dead and displaced 1.5 million.
SSM/KA/HMV
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