Gunmen threw bombs and opened fire on a cattle marketplace in remote northeastern Nigeria, killing at the least 60 individuals, a spokesman for Yobe state governor stated, an assault whose motives remain unknown.
"The Yobe State Governor has visited the Potiskum cattle market place exactly where he was informed that 60 men and women had been killed inside the assault, when 29 individuals are receiving treatment on the Hospital," Abdullahi Bego, spokesman for Governor Ibrahim Gaidam, told Reuters by telephone.
It was not clear who was behind the assault overnight on Wednesday within the town of Potiskum. The city has been an occasional target for militant Islamist sect Boko Haram but it also suffers occasional bouts of ethnic violence over land disputes.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for your attack. A hospital nurse mentioned he had counted 56 bodies in the Potiskum morgue.
"I am sure the death toll could rise in view from the serious nature of injuries sustained," the nurse at Potiskum hospital, Babangida, stated. "The Potiskum mortuary is made up of a room and a parlor and I counted the 56 in the parlor only. I didn't go into the inner room."
Police Commissioner Moses Namiri previously said security forces had confirmed 34 killed and that Islamist sect Boko Haram was suspected to be behind the attack.
"Everybody knows the modus operandi of BH (Boko Haram): they threw explosives and used guns," he said. "The gunfire lasted for virtually an hour."
Witness Mama Yusuf, a retired civil servant, said there were bodies around the floor, though he could not say how lots of.
"I saw lifeless bodies all around the spot and the unexpected emergency services taking individuals to hospitals," he stated.
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