Seven dead in suicide attack in Nigeria mosque
Abuja, July 23 : Seven people were killed and seven others injured following a suicide attack in a mosque in Nigeria's Borno state on Monday, officials said.
The injured have been evacuated to a hospital in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno, Xinhua quoted Bello Dambatta, head of rescue operations at the State Emergency Management Agency, as saying.
The remains of the male suicide attacker, who caused the havoc, were among those evacuated from the scene.
The attacker entered the mosque during the morning prayer, pretending to be a worshipper, before detonating the improvised explosive device strapped to his back, said Dambatta.
"It is not clear how the suicide bomber infiltrated the town and attacked the mosque," said Ali Kolo, head of a local vigilante group in Konduga.
He said the building collapsed during the explosion and the victims were evacuated from the rubble.
Yunusa Bello, a resident who witnessed the blast, said all the victims were worshippers at the mosque.
Bello said he saw bodies of seven of the victims who died inside the mosque while two bodies were found at the entrance of the building.
"One died on the way to the hospital and one other died at the hospital," he said after assisting victims to the hospital in his van.
No group has claimed responsibility for the blast but locals suspect the Nigeria-based armed group Boko Haram was to blame.
Despite the efforts by the government and the armed forces to destabilize the group, Boko Haram has been attacking soft targets recently, mostly in the northeast region of the country.
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Congress criticises Kerala CM for attending official event during Manmohan Singh's funeral
Kochi(PTI): The Congress in Kerala on Saturday criticised Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan for participating in an official inauguration ceremony at the international airport here while the nation was mourning the demise of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Speaking to reporters here, Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly V D Satheesan described the Chief Minister’s action as "disrespectful" and "inappropriate".
It is disrespectful and inappropriate for someone like the CM to attend and inaugurate an official event at Kochi airport while the funeral of Manmohan Singh, who served as Prime Minister of India for ten years, is being held in New Delhi, the LoP said.
He added that the Chief Minister of Kerala should not have attended such an event and that a request had been made to the airport management to postpone the function and inform the Chief Minister about it the day before.
Satheesan expressed his "grief and protest" over the "disrespect" shown by the CM.
Earlier in the day, Vijayan inaugurated the Taj Cochin International Airport, a five-star hotel developed by Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) and operated by the IHCL Taj Group.
In New Delhi, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was cremated with full state honours on Saturday in the presence of top dignitaries from India and abroad.
The last rites were attended by President Droupadi Murmu, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, along with top Congress leaders including Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi, and Rahul Gandhi.
