– At least 7 killed in bank attack.
A suicide bomber killed at least 7 people outside a commercial bank in a northeast Nigerian town today, the latest suspected attack by Islamist Boko Haram insurgents, police and local residents said. The blast occurred at an ATM point of a branch of the First Bank of Nigeria in Azare in Bauchi state, an area that has suffered previous attacks by the Islamist militants who appear to be ignoring a ceasefire deal announced by the government last month.
Local police said they believed a female suicide bomber carried out the attack, and four other suspects were arrested by police who were acting on information. Police have since confirmed seven dead at the scene, with 10 people taken to hospital. An employee of another nearby bank in Azare said at least 13 people died as a result of the blast.
Banks have been among the locations attacked by Boko Haram, which has killed thousands, mostly in the northeast, in its campaign to establish an Islamic enclave in northern Nigeria. The group, whose name means “Western education is sinful” in the local Hausa language and whose targets include schools, is described by the government as the biggest threat to security in Nigeria, Africa’s biggest economy and leading oil producer. On Oct 22, a bomb exploded at a bus station in Azare, killing at least five people and wounding 12.
Extracted and modified from Yahoo News.
