12 killed, several injured in suicide blast in insurgency-hit Nigerian state

A suspected female suicide bomber killed at least 12 people and injured several others at a fish market on Friday night in Nigeria’s northeastern Borno state, police said on Saturday.

Borno state police spokesperson, Nahum Kenneth Daso, said in a statement that a woman with an improvised explosive device strapped to her body, infiltrated a crowd at the fish market before detonating it among civilians.

Daso said those injured were taken to hospital.

Local residents said at least 30 people were injured.

Borno state is the heartland of an insurgency – primarily driven by the Islamist armed group Boko Haram – that has been raging for the past 16 years, killing thousands and displacing at least 2 million people, according to aid agencies.