50 dead, 50 injured in market blast

About 50 persons are said to have died in an explosion which hit a market in Borno State on Tuesday, August 11, 2015.

The death toll was initially put at 47, but rose to 50 by the evening.

“We have received at least 47 dead bodies and at least 50 with injuries from the Sabon Gari market, where there was a blast this afternoon,” a nurse at the Biu General Hospital told AFP.

A member of the local vigilante, Yuram Bura said that the device which caused the blast had been abandoned at the market.

“The explosion happened inside the market at the mobile phone section, near the livestock section of the market. It was concealed in a knapsack used for spraying herbicides. It was smuggled into the market and apparently abandoned… This is no doubt the handiwork of Boko Haram," Bura said.

Boko Haram has been blamed for many such attacks in recent times, the bulk of which have occurred in Borno state.