Girl suicide bomber, 7 years old, kills five in Nigeria

LAGOS, Nigeria — A young girl suicide bomber blew herself up and killed five others Sunday 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.

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.

A hospital source speaking on condition of anonymity confirmed the toll of the dead and the wounded.

It 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.