Boko Haram explodes bomb football match, kills at least 40

Members of Boko Haram Islamist group on Sunday evening detonated a bomb at a football match in Mubi, Admawa State, northeast of Nigeria, killing at least 40 people.

A police officer told AFP on condition of anonymity that the bomb was targeted at a football match. 'There has been a bomb explosion at a football field this evening and so far more than 40 people have been killed,' he said.

Mubi                                                                                                                                                           has seen previous attacks by Boko Haram.

Boko Haram has killed thousands trying to set up a conservative Muslim state in northern Nigeria.

the sect also is still holding more than Nigerian 200 schoolgirls kidnapped seven weeks ago.

According to the AFP, the policeman's account was was corroborated by a nurse in Mubi General Hospital, who also preferred not to be named because she was not authorised to discuss the attack with the media.

Mubi is located in Adamawa state, one of three in the northeast which has been under a state of emergency for more than a year as the military has tried to crush Boko Haram's five-year extremist uprising.

The area has been hit by far fewer Boko Haram attacks than other parts of the northeast, but the town was the site of a gruesome October 2012 massacre at a post-secondary technical college.

Scores of students were killed in their dorms, including many whose throats were slit.

The policeman said the bomb exploded at roughly 6:30 pm (1730 GMT) at the pitch in Mubi's Kaban area and targeted fans who were trying to leave the field after watching a local club match.

It was not immediately clear if players were among the casualties, but the officer and the nurse said it appeared most of the victims were fans.

Boko Haram has carried out scores of attacks on targets it says are a product of Western influence, including sports venues and schools teaching a secular curriculum.

The group has killed thousands during its battle against the government since 2009, but the conflict has received unprecedented global attention over the last six weeks following the mass kidnapping of more than 200 schoolgirls.

The girls were seized on April 14 from Chibok in Borno state, which shares a border with Adamawa.

While early suspicion for the latest unrest fell on the insurgents, the northeastern part of Nigeria has also seen sectarian violence at football pitches not thought to be linked to Boko Haram.

In Taraba state, just south of Adamawa, scores of people were killed last year in clashes in which supporters of a nominally Muslim club battled mostly Christian fans of a rival club.

Meanwhile, reports indicate that Cameroon troops have killed 40 Boko Haram militants in .in clashes.

According to Reuters, a presidency source confirmed the clashes, which took place west of the town of Kousseri, in the region bordering Nigeria and Chad.

Cameroon, it will be recalled, deployed some 1,000 troops to the far north last week, in a bid to step up the fight against the Islamist militants.