Bomb attack kills dozens on Nigerian border

At least 30 people have been killed in a bomb attack on Monday, on a bridge leading to Nigeria’s north-eastern border with Cameroon. 

The improvised explosive device was detonated near a market on the bridge connecting Nigeria’s Gamboru to the town of Fotokol in neighbouring Cameroon. Authorities say more than 35 others - both Nigerians and Cameroonians - were injured and taken to hospital after the attack. 

The governor of Cameroon’s Far North Region, Midijiyawa Bakari, says the bomb went off when “A young man picked up an explosive device thinking that it was a piece of iron and it exploded, killing him and eight others”. 

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack but several militant organisations have targeted Gamboru in the past. In 2014, Boko Haram captured Gamboru and the nearby town of Ngala. The Nigerian army was eventually able to wrestle back control after several months, with help from Chadian forces. Boko Haram remains active in the region. 

The group still launches attacks on military and civilian targets in the area and its attempts to establish a West African caliphate have killed more 35,000 people and displaced more than 2 million in the region. 

Photo credit: Reuters