AFP, Kano :
A bombing at a football pitch in Nigeria’s restive northeast killed at least 40 people on Sunday in an area previously attacked by Boko Haram Islamists, a police officer and a nurse said.
The blast hit the town of Mubi in Adamawa state, one of three in the northeast which has been under a state of emergency for more than a year as Nigeria’s military has tried to crush Boko Haram’s five-year extremist uprising.
“There has been a bomb explosion at a football field this evening and so far more than 40 people have been killed,” said the officer in Mubi who requested anonymity.
The policeman’s account was confirmed by a nurse at the Mubi General Hospital, who also requested anonymity, as the health worker was not authorised to discuss the attack with the media.
Adamawa has been hit by far fewer Boko Haram attacks than other parts of the northeast, but the town was the site of a gruesome October 2012 massacre at a post-secondary technical college.
Scores of students were killed in their dorms, including many whose throats were slit.
Mubi is just a few kilometres from Nigeria’s border with Cameroon and near the area where two Italian priests and a Canadian nun were seized by suspected Boko Haram gunmen in April.
The three were released earlier on Sunday and flown out on board a military aircraft from the town of Maroua, heading for the Cameroon’s capital.
The policeman in Mubi said the bomb exploded at roughly 6:30 pm (1730 GMT) at the pitch in Mubi’s Kabang area and targeted fans who were trying to leave the field after watching a local club match.
It was not immediately clear if players were among the casualties, but the officer and the nurse said it appeared most of the victims were fans.
