Second child suicide bombing kills 3 and injures 46 people in Nigeria

Reuters

According to reports from The World Post, two young girls - strapped with explosives - blew themselves up in an open market in Yobe State, Nigeria.

It was the second attack in two consecutive days upon the state, which has been frequently targeted by jihadist group Boko Haram. Sunday's attack killed three people and 46 were injured.

The young girls were about 10 years old, according to witness Sani Abdu Potiskum, a vendor at the market in Potiskum town. "I saw their dead bodies. They are two young girls of about 10 years of age ... you only see the plaited hair and part of the upper torso," the trader said.

A day before the bombing, a similar incident happened in Maiduguri city where a girl believed to be around 10-years-old also blew herself up in a busy market.  Sixteen people were killed and 20 injured in that attack, according to security sources.

A suicide bomber also hit Potiskum town last November, killing at least 48 students during an assembly while a bomb exploded in a Potiskum police station prior to this incident.

Boko Haram, a Sunni Muslim jihadist group, has been trying to establish their territory in the northeast part of Nigeria for years and has been a major concern for the government. The failure to stop the movement until now is a hurdle for the re-election campaign of President Goodluck Jonathan in February.

According to the Council on Foreign Relations, an estimated 10,000 people died in the violence last year.

The military has been losing ground and took a major hit when insurgents took over a town near an army base in Baga, Borno State massacring an estimated 2,000 people .

The World Post further reports that President Jonathan's campaign team has been hit by violence. According to police spokesman Abu Sunday Emmanuel, the driver of the campaign vehicle was killed by youths and two campaign vehicles were burnt.

"The youths were chanting, no PDP, no to Jonathan Badluck," a witness said, referring to the ruling People's Democratic Party.

The government publicly denounces the unprovoked attack on the President's campaign vehicle, according to a statement from PDP spokesman Olisa Metuh.