Nigeria: More than 30 people killed and 80 others injured during bomb blast at a market

At least 32 people have been killed and 80 others injured in a bomb blast at a vegetable market in Adamawa State's capital, Yola in northeastern Nigeria. The blast is being blamed on Boko Haram, which has carried out a number of similar attacks in the country. Adamawa state police spokesman Usman Abubakar told Reuters: "The bomb blast occurred at the Jimeta by-pass which houses a vegetables, fruits and a timber market but I am yet to get the number of casualties."

The number of dead has not been confirmed but an eye-witness told Reuters he had seen eight ambulances taking away bodies. Market shopkeeper Alhaji Ahmed said: "The ground near my shop was covered with dead bodies. I helped to load 32 dead bodies into five vehicles." Yola resident Mohammed Dansabe told local news outlet Premium Times that the blast was widely heard. "I am currently at the scene and we are helping to evacuate injured to the hospital, there are many dead bodies all over the place," he said.

In October, 27 people were killed by an explosion at a mosque in Yola. On the same day, 28 others also died in an explosion at a mosque in Maiduguri. Islamist insurgents Boko Haram (now called Iswap) are blamed for thousands of deaths across Nigeria in the last few years, in their quest to establish a Sharia state. The group has allied itself with Islamic State (IS) and achieved worldwide notoriety for its kidnapping of hundreds of schoolgirls in Chibok.

Since President Muhammadu Buhari came to power on an anti-terror ticket in May, Boko Haram has continued to wreak destruction across northern Nigeria and across the border in Cameroon and other neighbouring states. In recent months the group are reported to have suffered a series of military setbacks but continue to inflict carnage. However Amnesty has also criticised the Nigerian army for killing hundreds of civilians.