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Police: Blast at Nigeria Pro-Jonathan Rally was Female Suicide Bomber

Published

11 years ago

February 3, 2015

Nigeria President Goodluck Jonathan gestures, during an election campaign rally, at Tafawa Balewa Square in Lagos, Nigeria, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2015. The president launches his bid for re-election at a time when Africas biggest oil producer is more divided than ever, amid a growing Islamic uprising in the northeast and slumping oil prices and the naira currency biting into peoples pockets. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)

Nigeria President Goodluck Jonathan gestures, during an election campaign rally, at Tafawa Balewa Square in Lagos, Nigeria, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2015. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)

(Reuters) – A bomb blast that went off just minutes after Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan left an election campaign rally was the work of a female suicide bomber, police said on Tuesday.

The bomb exploded near a stadium in the northeastern Nigerian city of Gombe on Monday, setting a car ablaze, killing one person and wounding 18.

Gombe state police spokesman Fwaje Atajiri said by telephone that the bomb had been a female with explosives strapped to her, a sign it was the work of Islamist militant group Boko Haram, although no one has claimed responsibility.