Twin suicide attacks kill dozens in Nigeria

Two suicide attacks in northeast Nigeria killed at least 37 people on Tuesday.

In the first attack, near a police checkpoint in Nigeria's Borno state, attackers dressed as merchants were approaching their target when they were stopped by the police and blew themselves up, officials in Borno told journalists. At least 12 people died.

Eye witnesses said the attackers were traveling in the town of Biu, German news agency dpa reported. Citizens living in Biu, where Christians are a majority, said Islamist terror organization Boko Haram was responsible for the bombings.

A second attack took place in Potiskum, a commercial hub in Yobe, where the suicide bomber detonated himself in a restaurant. Three people died and at least 13 others were injured in the bombing.

No group took responsibility for the attacks, but there was a strong suspicion that they were carried out by Boko Haram, which has taken over parts of Borno state in Nigeria's northeast.

In a video released by the group on Tuesday, Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau reportedly said that his organization would disrupt the national election scheduled to take place on March 28. "The election will not be held even if we are dead," news agency AFP reported Shekau as saying.

Nigeria has joined forces with Chad, Niger and Cameroon to rout the rebels, who seek to establish a caliphate based on orthodox Islamic Sharia law.

mg/cmk (AFP, Reuters)