DAMATURU, Nigeria (AP) – Nigeria’s Islamic extremists chose open-air praying grounds for suicide bombings Friday, one of the holiest days of the Muslim calendar. At least 15 people died as they prepared to celebrate Eid al-Fitr in northeastern Damaturu, said police.
Nigerians who usually turn out in their finest robes to pray on the holiday stayed home in fear in Damaturu and Gombe town, where 50 people shopping for the holiday at the main market died in two bomb blasts late Thursday night, according to the National Emergency Management Agency.
One of the bombers was a child who looked about 10 years old and the other was an elderly woman, said the military in a statement. Nigeria’s homegrown Boko Haram extremist group has used many women and girl bombers in recent weeks, raising fears the insurgents are turning some of their hundreds of captives into weapons. A military bomb disposal expert has told The Associated Press that almost all the female bombers are strapped with explosives that are remotely detonated.
“No amount of terrorist acts would deter our resolve to stamp out terrorism and insurgency in our fatherland,” said a statement from army spokesman Col. Sani Kukasheka Usman.
But Nigerians are weary of the military’s promises to halt the 6-year-old insurgency that has killed more than 13,000 people. Amnesty International puts the toll at some 20,000 to include 8,000 people it charges have died in military detention – some shot, some of untreated wounds from torture, others just starving or asphyxiated to death in overcrowded cells.