MAIDUGURI: Nigeria police said Thursday that they suspected a suicide bomber was behind the blast that killed several worshippers in a mosque on Christmas eve in the country’s northeastern Borno state.
A police spokesman put the death toll at five, with 35 wounded. A witness on Wednesday told AFP that eight people were killed.
The bomb went off inside the crowded Al-Adum Juma’at Mosque at Gamboru market in the capital city of Maiduguri, as Muslim faithful gathered for evening prayers around 6:00 p.m. (1700 GMT), according to witnesses and the police.
“An unknown individual, whom we suspect to be a member of a terrorist group, entered inside the mosque, and while prayer was ongoing, we recorded an explosion,” police spokesman Nahum Daso told journalists.
Daso said in a statement late on Wednesday that the “incident may have been a suicide bombing, based on the recovery of fragments of a suspected suicide vest and witness statements.”
Police officials have been deployed to markets, worship centers and other public places in the wake of the blast.
Nigeria has been battling a jihadist insurgency since 2009 by jihadist groups Boko Haram and an offshoot, Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), in a conflict that has killed at least 40,000 and displaced around two million from their homes in the northeast, according to the UN.
Although the conflict has been largely limited to the northeastern region, jihadist attacks have been recorded in other parts of the west African nation.
Maiduguri itself — once the scene of nightly gunbattles and bombings — has been calm in recent years, with the last major attack recorded in 2021.
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Police suspect suicide bomber behind Nigeria’s deadly mosque blast
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Police suspect suicide bomber behind Nigeria’s deadly mosque blast
- Nigeria police said Thursday that they suspected a suicide bomber was behind the blast that killed several worshippers in a mosque on Christmas eve in the country’s northeastern Borno state
Sweden intercepts suspected Russian drone during visit by French aircraft carrier
- Swedish naval ship observed the suspected drone during a patrol in the Oresund
- Kremlin says ‘absurd’ to suggest drone jammed near French aircraft carrier is Russian
STOCKHOLM: The Swedish military has intercepted a suspected Russian drone off the south of the country as a French aircraft carrier was docked in the port of Malmo, officials say.
Kremlin said it was ‘absurd’ to suggest drone jammed near French aircraft carrier was Russian.
The armed forces said on Thursday that a Swedish naval ship observed the suspected drone during a patrol in the Oresund, the strait that divides Sweden from Denmark.
They said that unspecified countermeasures were taken to disrupt the drone, and that contact with the drone was then lost.
The French nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle is in the southern Swedish city of Malmo this week as part of regular NATO exercise activities. Malmo is located on the Oresund, opposite the Danish capital of Copenhagen.
French military spokesperson Guillaume Vernet said that the drone was detected on Wednesday and handled by Swedish forces integrated into a security system around the carrier. He said Friday that the drone was more than 10 kilometers from the Charles de Gaulle.
“This system showed it is robust, and this event had no impact on the activity of the aircraft carrier battle group,” Vernet said.
Swedish Defense Minister Pal Jonson told public broadcaster SVT Thursday evening that the suspected violation of Swedish airspace by a drone happened in connection with a Russian military ship being in Swedish territorial waters. Asked what country he thinks the drone belongs to, he replied: “Probably Russia.”
The Russian ship continued into the Baltic Sea, and Swedish authorities have been in close contact with Denmark about the incident, Jonson said. The armed forces said no further drones were observed.
Western officials say Russia is masterminding a campaign of sabotage and disruption across Europe. An Associated Press database has documented well over 100 incidents.
Not all incidents are public and it can sometimes take officials months to establish a link to Moscow. While officials say the campaign — waged since President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 — aims to deprive Kyiv of support, they believe Moscow is also trying to identify Europe’s weak spots and suck up law enforcement resources.
Kremlin said it was ‘absurd’ to suggest drone jammed near French aircraft carrier was Russian.
The armed forces said on Thursday that a Swedish naval ship observed the suspected drone during a patrol in the Oresund, the strait that divides Sweden from Denmark.
They said that unspecified countermeasures were taken to disrupt the drone, and that contact with the drone was then lost.
The French nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle is in the southern Swedish city of Malmo this week as part of regular NATO exercise activities. Malmo is located on the Oresund, opposite the Danish capital of Copenhagen.
French military spokesperson Guillaume Vernet said that the drone was detected on Wednesday and handled by Swedish forces integrated into a security system around the carrier. He said Friday that the drone was more than 10 kilometers from the Charles de Gaulle.
“This system showed it is robust, and this event had no impact on the activity of the aircraft carrier battle group,” Vernet said.
Swedish Defense Minister Pal Jonson told public broadcaster SVT Thursday evening that the suspected violation of Swedish airspace by a drone happened in connection with a Russian military ship being in Swedish territorial waters. Asked what country he thinks the drone belongs to, he replied: “Probably Russia.”
The Russian ship continued into the Baltic Sea, and Swedish authorities have been in close contact with Denmark about the incident, Jonson said. The armed forces said no further drones were observed.
Western officials say Russia is masterminding a campaign of sabotage and disruption across Europe. An Associated Press database has documented well over 100 incidents.
Not all incidents are public and it can sometimes take officials months to establish a link to Moscow. While officials say the campaign — waged since President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 — aims to deprive Kyiv of support, they believe Moscow is also trying to identify Europe’s weak spots and suck up law enforcement resources.
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