At least 50 killed in mosque bombing in Nigeria, police say

A teenage suicide bomber detonated explosives as worshippers gathered for morning prayers at a mosque in northeastern Nigeria, killing at least 50 people, police said Tuesday, in one of the region’s deadliest attacks in years.

Bloody debris covered the floor inside the mosque in Mubi town in Adamawa state, where worshippers had arrived around 5 a.m. Outside, people gathered around the dead.

Police spokesman Othman Abubakar told the Associated Press they were “still trying to ascertain the number of injured because they are in various hospitals.”

While there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombing, suspicion immediately fell on the Boko Haram extremist group. The group is based in neighboring Borno state and has been blamed for scores of similar attacks over the years.

Tuesday’s attack was the first since Mubi was liberated from Boko Haram insurgents in 2014.

Boko Haram has increasingly used teenagers or young women as bombers, many of whom have been abducted.

The police spokesman said the young man detonated his explosives while mingling among the worshippers.

While Nigeria’s military in recent months has flushed Boko Haram from its forest stronghold, President Muhammadu Buhari’s claim late last year that the extremist group had been “crushed” has proved to be premature.

Boko Haram has been blamed for more than 20,000 deaths during its nearly decade-old insurgency, which has spilled over into neighboring countries and displaced millions of people, creating a vast humanitarian crisis.

UPDATES:

7:46 a.m.: Updated with details on the aftermath at the mosque and additional background.

2:10 a.m.: This article was updated with a new death toll.

This article was originally published at 1:20 a.m.