A teenage suicide bomber detonated an explosive device strapped to her body in Damaturu, the Yobe State capital on Tuesday, killing six people and wounding about 40, the state police command has said.

No one claimed responsibility for the blast but Islamist militant group Boko Haram has been blamed for a series of similar attacks in the region in recent weeks.

Speaking to our correspondent on the telephone, the head of Damaturu Response Office of the National Emergency Management Agency, Bashir Idris Garga, said two bomb incidents happened at the Central Motor park in the centre of the town and at the Pompomari area.

According to him, the bomb incident at the motor park occurred at about 7.30am and was caused by a teenage girl that had an improvised explosive device (IED) strapped on her.

He said, “The girl was accosted by those manning the entrance to the motor park and while they were trying to search her she detonated the bomb which had a major impact on an already loaded bus that was taking off.

“This killed four persons instantly and resulted in the injury of 22 others, six of which were critical.”

He said both the corpses and the injured had been taken to the General Hospital in Damaturu.

In the case of the bomb incident at the Pompomari area (Pompomari bypass), Garga said a naive boy was the courier and was accosted by a man who suspected that he might be carrying an explosive.

The man in the process of getting the boy taken to security personnel was bombed along with the boy, Garga revealed.

Six people, including two suspected suicide bombers, died in the two bomb explosions that occurred on Tuesday in Damaturu, Yobe State capital.

The Yobe Police Command Public Relations Officer, DSP Toyin Gbadegeshin, confirmed the incident to our correspondent, saying six people including the suicide bomber died in the blast.

Gbadegeshin said three others were in critical conditions, while 40 others, who sustained various degrees of injury, had been taken to hospitals in the area.

“The girl detonated the explosive at the screening centre of the motor park gate, killing herself and four others, including a pregnant woman and a baby.

“The other explosive went off at about the same time with the first one at Pompomari, when a suspected male suicide bomber, sensing he would be apprehended, ran into a nearby bush and the explosive went off, killing him alone,” the police spokesman said.

Meanwhile, the state Governor, Alhaji Ibrahim Gaidam, has described the twin explosions as “callous, senseless and condemnable,” even as he called on residents of the state to be more prayerful and vigilant.

The governor in a statement by his spokesman, Mallam Abdullahi Bego, said he “has been briefed on the two suicide bomb explosions in Damaturu on Tuesday in which six people were confirmed dead and 26 others injured.”

Bego said the governor was heartbroken and mourned with the families of the victims of these “callous, senseless and condemnable attacks.”

He added that the governor prayed that Allah would “grant repose to the souls of those who died and quick recovery to those who sustained injuries.”

The media aide revealed that the governor had directed that injured victims be given quick and free treatment at the Sani Abacha Specialist Hospital, where they were all taken to for medical care.