Many Dead in Gombe Bombing

Local Editor

Reports from Nigeria said at least two bombs had ripped through two bus stations in the northern city of Gombe. At least 29 people had been killed in the blasts, a Red Cross official declared.

Earlier in the day, suicide bombers killed at least 11 people in neighboring Cameroon.

At least 49 people were killed in blasts at a market in Gombe last week. That attack was blamed on Boko Haram militants.

The Takfiri group, which often targets northern Nigeria, had stepped up attacks since President Mohammad Buhari took office in May.

However, no group had said it was behind Wednesday evening's attacks, although Boko Haram had targeted bus stations in the city before.

It is feared that the Gombe death toll will rise with reports of dozens of people injured as one witness said that he had counted 30 dead bodies at one of the bus stations.

Last year, Boko Haram took control of a large area of north-eastern Nigeria and declared a "caliphate".

Nigeria's military, backed by troops from neighboring countries, including Cameroon, had recaptured most of the territory, but in recent weeks there has been an upsurge in suicide attacks.

In a related notion, hours before the attack in Gombe, suicide bombers targeted Maroua in northern Cameroon. The attack left at least 11 people dead and injured dozens more.

A local source stated that the bombers were two young girls who had disguised themselves as beggars.

One of the bombers detonated the explosives at the city's central market, in what is the second such attack in the past week.

The Cameroonian army uses the town of Maroua as the headquarters for its operations against Boko Haram, as part of a multinational force battling the militants in neighboring parts of Nigeria.

Consequently, President Paul Biya had described the attacks as "cowardly and ignoble".

According to Amnesty International, at least 17,000 people, mostly civilians, had been killed since Boko Haram launched its uprising in 2009.

The group is still holding many women, girls and children captive, including 219 schoolgirls it kidnapped from a school in Chibok in April last year.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team