Several wounded as Emir escapes suicide attack

A
Muslim religious
leader in
Potiskum and
Emir of Fika
escaped a suicide
attack on Friday,
when the
bomber was
thwarted by local
people before
blowing himself
up, residents
said.
Several people
were wounded in
the blast in the
town of
Potiskum, one
witness said, as
a police official
said he was
awaiting further
details of the
attack.
“A man who
looked in his 40s
… approached the
emir and tried to
embrace him, but
people around
pushed him
away, and at
that moment, a
bomb concealed
under his caftan
went off,” one
witness said.
Those wounded
included the
emir’s
bodyguard, a
mosque aid
worker and a
nurse, the
witness said.
The attack was
said to have
occurred as
worshippers left
the mosque
following Friday
prayers.
There was no
immediate claim
for the attack,
though Potiskum
has been hard hit
by violence
blamed on radical
Islamist group
Boko Haram.