Suspected Boko Haram terror blast kills 14 Nigerians as they watch World Cup

Meanwhile security forces arrested a “terror kingpin” among nearly 500 people detained as suspected terrorists in the south-east of the country, police said.

At least 26 people were wounded in last night’s blast as football fans watched the Brazil-Mexico match in Damaturu, the capital of Yobe state, police said.

“The bomb just threw me away and I didn’t even know where I was,” survivor Babagana Mohammed said. He recovered consciousness in the hospital.

Another wounded victim, Musa Mohammed, said some people lost limbs in the blast. He said he had stopped to buy airtime for his mobile phone.

“I stopped at the viewing centre to buy a recharge card and suddenly the blast went off. It was just like a flash of light and many people were killed. Some were amputated ... But thank God mine was a lesser injury.”

Witnesses said a suicide bomber drove a tricycle taxi packed with explosives into the area. But police said the explosion came from a car parked and abandoned on the road in front.

Police Assistant Superintendent Nathan Cheghan said such viewing sites were banned in Yobe state two months ago because they have become a target of Boko Haram, an armed Islamic group that wants to turn Nigerian into an Islamic state. However, Boko Haram has not claimed responsibility.

Security experts have warned that Islamic militants might attack crowds watching the World Cup in public places in Nigeria, Kenya and Uganda, as they did in 2010 in Uganda. Explosions in Kampala, Uganda, at two sites where people watched the 2010 World Cup final on TV killed 74 people.

Meanwhile, “a terror kingpin in the list of wanted terrorists was found among 486 suspects arrested while travelling at night in a suspicious convoy of 33 buses in south-east Enugu state.

Local news reports have said the men and a handful of women detained said they were travelling to Port Harcourt, Nigeria’s oil capital in the south, to look for work.

Boko Haram’s leader Abubakar Shekau has threatened to attack targets in the Niger Delta.