Multiple bombs kill eight in northeast Nigerian town

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (Reuters) – At least three bomb explosions killed eight people at a military checkpoint in the northeast Nigerian town of Biu on Tuesday, witnesses and a hospital source said.

The military fired back on the attackers and killed 17 insurgents, a security source told Reuters.

Witness Auwalu Ibrahim, a local pro-government vigilante, said there were children around the checkpoint when the blasts went off. “Everyone has been told to go home due to apprehension about the blasts,” he said.

Biu has been repeatedly attacked by the Islamist militant group Boko Haram and the use of multiple bombs planned to go off in quick succession is a trademark tactic of the jihadists.

A nurse at Biu general hospital said eight bodies had been brought in from the blast. Six people were receiving treatment for wounds, she said. The military did not respond to a request for comment. Boko Haram rarely claims responsibility for attacks.

In a separate attack bearing the hallmarks of the militant group, a suicide bomber blew himself up in a restaurant in the northeast Nigerian town of Potiskum on Tuesday, killing two people and wounding 12, a hospital source said.

Boko Haram’s relentless attacks on military and civilians have killed thousands since the group launched its violent campaign for a breakaway Islamic state in mid-2009.