Suicide bomber kills 20 in Maiduguri chicken market

Twenty persons, including a female suicide bomber, were killed in a major market in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital,  after an attack by a suspected Boko Haram sect member on Saturday

The blast also injured 18, the Police Public Relations Officer of the Borno State Police Command, Gideon Jubrin, said.

According to him, the incident occurred at about 12.30pm at a section of the Monday market.

The market has become a target of the Boko Haram female suicide bombers as the Saturday bombing marked the third time that the market would be attacked in the last three months.

In a statement, the police spokesman said, '20 persons were killed in the attack, including the female suicide bomber, with 18 others injured at the market.'

The death toll may however be higher as aid and emergency agency workers were still busy evacuating the dead and the injured from the scene of the attack.

The spokesman for National Emergency Management Authority, AbdulKadir Ibrahim, said workers from the agency were at the market to render assistance, but declined to give the casualty figure.

It was gathered that a female suicide bomber attacked the market at about 12.30 pm Saturday.

The attack was at the Yen-Kaji area of the market where chickens are sold. Punch