By — Andrew Mach Andrew Mach Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/child-suicide-bombers-kill-20-nigerian-blasts Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Child suicide bombers kill more than 20 in two Nigerian market blasts World Jan 11, 2015 12:58 PM EDT Two young girls strapped with explosives in northeast Nigeria blew themselves up Sunday, killing three other people in the second apparent attack in two days using child suicide bombers. Witnesses said the mid-afternoon blasts happened in an open market that sells mobile handsets in Nigeria’s northeast Yobe state, Reuters reported, where 26 others were wounded. Both children appeared to be no more than 10 years old, Sani Abdu Potiskum, a trader at the market said. “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,” he told Reuters. Sunday’s attack came on the heels of a deadlier bombing on Saturday when another young girl aged about ten exploded in a busy marketplace in Nigeria’s northeastern city of Maiduguri, killing 19 people and injuring more than 20, the BBC reported. The Yobe state has been frequently attacked by the Sunni Muslim jihadist group, Reuters reported. We're not going anywhere. Stand up for truly independent, trusted news that you can count on! Donate now By — Andrew Mach Andrew Mach Andrew Mach is a former Digital Editor for PBS NewsHour in New York City, where he manages the online editorial direction of the national broadcast's weekend edition. Formerly, Mach was a news editor and staff writer for NBC News. He's also written for the Christian Science Monitor in Boston and had stints at ABC News, the Washington Post and German network ZDF in Berlin, in addition to reporting for an investigative journalism project in Phoenix. Mach was a recipient of the 2016 Kiplinger Fellowship, the 2015 RIAS German/American Exchange fellowship by the Radio Television Digital News Foundation and the 2012 Berlin Capital Program Fulbright. He attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and is a native of Aberdeen, South Dakota. @andrewjmach
Two young girls strapped with explosives in northeast Nigeria blew themselves up Sunday, killing three other people in the second apparent attack in two days using child suicide bombers. Witnesses said the mid-afternoon blasts happened in an open market that sells mobile handsets in Nigeria’s northeast Yobe state, Reuters reported, where 26 others were wounded. Both children appeared to be no more than 10 years old, Sani Abdu Potiskum, a trader at the market said. “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,” he told Reuters. Sunday’s attack came on the heels of a deadlier bombing on Saturday when another young girl aged about ten exploded in a busy marketplace in Nigeria’s northeastern city of Maiduguri, killing 19 people and injuring more than 20, the BBC reported. The Yobe state has been frequently attacked by the Sunni Muslim jihadist group, Reuters reported. We're not going anywhere. Stand up for truly independent, trusted news that you can count on! Donate now