A suicide bomber killed at least 50 people at a mosque in Mubi, northeastern Nigeria on Tuesday.
“Some of the dead were in pieces beyond recognition,” said Bayi Muhammad, a worshipper at the mosque who said he only escaped the blast because he was late for early morning prayers, Reuters reports.
“A boy of about 17 years entered into a mosque and proceeded to where the Muslim worshippers were and detonated an improvised explosive device”, local online website, TheCable reports.
The government and military have said numerous times since 2015 that Boko Haram’s eight-year insurgency is almost defeated but the group continues to attack civilian and military targets.
Adamawa’s police spokesman, Abubakar Othman confirmed the death toll to be at 50 but said that there could be more as those injured could add to the figure.
Tuesday’s attack was the biggest in Nigeria’s northeast since two schoolgirl suicide bombers killed 56 people and wounded dozens more at a market in Adamawa last December.
It is also the first attack on Mubi since armed forces recaptured the town from Boko Haram in 2014.
Boko Haram has waged an insurgency in northeastern Nigeria since 2009 in its attempt to create an Islamic state in the region.
More than 20,000 people have been killed and forced around 2 million people forced to flee their homes.
