Blast kills 14 in Nigeria mosque

Fourteen worshippers were killed yesterday when a suicide bomber attacked a mosque on Nigeria's border with Cameroon, civilian vigilantes told AFP.

The suspected Boko Haram jihadist blew himself up amid worshippers inside the mosque in Gamboru around 5:00 am, shortly before morning prayers.

"Fourteen bodies have been pulled out of the rubble," said Umar Kachalla, a civilian militiaman, who said the mosque had been completely destroyed.

"Only the muezzin has survived and we believe more bodies are buried under the debris," said Kachalla. "The death toll may likely rise."

An hour earlier, a patrol of vigilantes spotted four suspected suicide bombers on the outskirts of the town and arrested one of them after a chase, said a second vigilante, Shehu Mada.

"Two of them turned back and fled while the fourth disappeared into the darkness and we believe it was he who attacked the mosque," Mada said.

Boko Haram's eight-year insurgency against the government of Nigeria has spilled into neighbouring Niger, Chad and Cameroon, killing around 20,000 people and displacing more than 2.6 million.