BOMB ON GIRL DETONATES IN MARKET,KILLS 20

Explosives strapped to a
girl, who was described as young as 10 years
old, detonated at a crowded marketplace in
Nigeria, killing at least 20 people and injuring
18 others, according to police.
The police estimate differed with the local
hospital's, which counted 51 people with blast
injuries.
The suicide blast happened at the main
entrance of the ever-crowded Monday Market,
which is the city of Maiduguri's largest market.
Around 12:40 p.m. on Saturday, the girl was
stopped for screening by vigilantes who man the
gates of the market, according to witnesses
and rescuers.
Among the 20 deaths included the girl, who
detonated the improvised explosive device, said
Gideon Jubril, Borno state's police spokesman.
Although no one has claimed responsibility, Boko
Haram militants are the main suspects.
This was the fourth suicide attack on the city's
market since last July.
Abur Babakura who was at the scene said the
explosives detonated as the girl, who appeared
about 10 years of age, was being screened with
a metal detector at the market's entrance. It's
standard procedure for people to be screened
before entering the market.
"The metal detector beeped indicating she was
carrying a metal under her dress, but it
exploded before she could be singled out from
the crowd," said Babakura.
"We believe that (there) was an accomplice
watching from a distance pressed the remote,"
he said.
Two of the vigilantes manning the entrance
were among the dead, he said. Many of
wounded victims taken to Maiduguri Specialist
Hospital have life-threatening injuries, said
Musa Kyarimi, a nurse there.
The marketplace in Maiduguri has been a
frequent target. More than 45 people were
killed in late November last year in a twin
suicide attack and more than 10 others died in
another suicide blast a week later on December
1. Another suicide bombing on July 1 left at
least 15 people dead and several injured.
Boko Haram has terrorized northern Nigeria
regularly since 2009, attacking police, schools,
churches and civilians, and bombing
government buildings. It has also kidnapped
students, including more than 200 schoolgirls
who were abducted in April and remain
missing.
Maiduguri is the capital of Borno State. The
deadly Saturday blast came after a bloody
massacre in Baga, a fishing town about 125
miles away, where Boko Haram militants killed
hundreds, possibly as many as 2,000 people.
That massacre has been described as Boko
Haram's deadliest act by Amnesty
International.
The Islamist group, whose name translates to
"Western education is sin" has said its aim is to
impose a stricter form of Sharia law across
Nigeria, which is split between a majority Muslim
north and a mostly Christian south.