Kano: A young girl suicide bomber blew herself up and killed five others today in an attack on a market in the northeastern Nigerian city of Potiskum, witnesses and a hospital source said.
Nineteen others who sustained various degrees of injury were taken to hospital after the blast in Potiskum, Yobe state's commercial capital, a local vigilante leader told AFP.
"So far, five people were killed with the girl while 19 others have been taken to hospital for injuries," Buba Lawan said.
A hospital source speaking on condition of anonymity confirmed the toll of the dead and the wounded. The attack occurred at around 1.30 pm (Local time) during peak hours of business, traders said.
Witnesses said she appeared to be as young as seven-years-old and was the latest in a string of child suicide bombers in Nigeria. Previous such attacks have been blamed on Islamist extremist group Boko Haram.
The attack again highlighted the severe security challenges facing Nigeria in the run up to March 28 presidential and parliamentary elections.
President Goodluck Jonathan is in a tough re-election bid against ex-military ruler Muhammadu Buhari in the vote, initially scheduled for February 14.
The military pushed for the six-week delay eventually granted by the electoral commission to give it time to secure the country even though the insurgency has raged for six years.
Today's incident was the second such suicide attack around the same market, where new and second-hand phones are sold and repaired.
The first attack occurred January 11, when two suicide bombers, one of them appearing to be around 15 years old, blew themselves up outside the market. The attack killed six and injured 37 others.
Barring women
In today's attack, suspicious security guards and vigilantes said they had sought to prevent the girl from entering the market.
"We sent her back four times, because given her age, she did not have anything to do in the market," Lawan said.
"When we were screening people, she bent and tried to pass under the ropes, some distance from our view. That was when the explosives went off."
In a sign of how much distrust has been generated over the suicide bombings, Lawan said that "since the January suicide bomb attacks, we have barred women from entering the market to prevent further attacks."
Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states, all located in northeastern Nigeria, have witnessed dozens of attacks since Boko Haram intensified its campaign in the region in the past two years.
Jonathan said in an interview published today that he underestimated the Islamists, who have overrun swathes of the northeast.
Boko Haram has recently extended its bloody campaign to neighbouring countries across Nigeria's northeastern border as regional forces pursue them.
Over 13,000 have been killed while more than one million people have been left homeless since 2009 as the rebels try to carve out an Islamic state in Nigeria's northeast.