On Tuesday, 21 November 2017, a suicide bomber targeted a packed mosque in Mubi, a town in north-eastern Nigeria, during morning prayers. The attack killed at least 50 and left many more injured.
Whilst no group has claimed responsibility, it is likely the work of Boko Haram, who carry out regular attacks in the region.
No figure has yet been given for the number of injured but it was reported by Al Jazeera that: “the number of wounded was so high that we will probably see more and more people succumbing to wounds”.
The hospitals in Mubi are also not equipped to deal with this kind of incident, so emergency workers travelled several hours from the state capital, Yola, to treat the injured.
Mubi was briefly captured by Boko Haram in November 2014 but were soon pushed out by Nigeria’s armed forces.
AOAV records casualties (i.e. people killed and injured) from explosive violence around the world as reported in English-language news sources. Last year, Nigeria saw 461 civilian deaths and injuries from IED attacks; an 82% decrease from the previous year. 93% of civilian casualties were caused by suicide attacks. When IEDs were used in populated areas, 94% of those dead and injured were civilians.
Between January and October 2017, Nigeria has seen 418 civilian casualties from IEDs. All were caused by 30 suicide attacks. The 30 suicide attacks used 53 bombers, of which at least 31 were females, and a further 3 were children.
Just last week, four suicide bombers targeted the Muna Gari suburb of Maiduguri, Nigeria, killing 18 and injuring 29, including the four bombers.
AOAV calls on all states to urgently address the threat of IED attacks. There is an urgent need for preventative measures to be implemented by States and the international community.
For more on counter-IED initiatives, please see here.
To read AOAV’s latest report, Understanding the regional and transnational networks that facilitate IED use, please read here.
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