Death toll rises to 40 in Nigeria suicide blast

ABUJA -- Forty bodies have been evacuated from the scene of an early Tuesday suicide attack inside a local mosque in the northeastern Nigeria town of Mubi, according to emergency aid workers.

The death toll rose from 30 as emergency aid workers combed the mosque where the attack took place after an early morning prayer, said Emma Adasolid, an official of the International Rescue Committee.

Othman Abubakar, a spokesman for the police, told reporters the dawn attack was perpetrated by an unidentified teenage boy who set off the suicide vest he wore to the mosque in Kunu Araha, a suburb town of Mubi in the northern state of Adamawa.

"Immediately after the prayers, he detonated the bomb," Abubakar said. "Many of the wounded are receiving treatment at various hospitals in Mubi North where the attack occurred."

Eyewitnesses told Xinhua most of the wounded victims were in critical conditions.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the suicide blast, but the security authorities and local residents are suspecting terror group Boko Haram to have carried out the attack.

In October 2014, Mubi was captured and under the control of Boko Haram.

Less than a month later, government forces conquered Boko Haram in the town and recaptured the town from them.

The attack early Tuesday was the first in the town since it was recaptured from Boko Haram three years ago.

Boko Haram has been blamed for the death of more than 20,000 people and displacement of 2.3 million others in Nigeria since 2009.