Bomb blast kills 2 in Nigeria

Nigeria's police in northeast Borno State on Saturday confirmed the killing of two persons in a bomb blast on Friday night in Ruwan Zafi, Maiduguri, the state capital.

State police spokesperson Lawal Abdullahi told reporters that the bomb was planted on the roadside by unknown persons.

The bomb was believed to have been planted at a roadside by suspected members of the sect group Boko Haram,at Ruwan Zafi, near a police check-point, Abdullahi said.

According to him, the bomb exploded around 8:30 p.m. local time after one of the victims had unknowingly stepped on it on his way home.

The police had begun investigations into the issue and appealed for calm, Abdullahi said.

More than 50 other people, mostly security personnel, had so far been killed by suspected Boko Haram militants since July 2009, when they launched attacks on individuals.

The Boko Haram launched the first attack in the state in July 2009, during which many were killed and wounded with properties destroyed. The sect's leader Mohammed Yusuf and his alleged financier Buji Foi were killed in a counter attack by the security operative.

Members of the sect staged an uprising in Maiduguri in 2009, attacking symbols of the government authority including prisons, police stations and schools, leading to clashes with security forces in which an estimated hundreds of people were killed.

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