Female suicide bomber kills five at church service: A female suicide bomber blew herself up in the midst of a crowded evangelical Christian church service in northeast Nigeria yesterday, killing at least five people. <br /> <br />It is the latest bombing in a string of attacks blamed on Islamic extremist group Boko Haram that killed at least 200 people in the past week. <br />Nearly 100 men and boys praying in a mosque were gunned down on Wednesday. <br />On Friday, the military said six female suicide bombers caused explosions that killed scores of people including a soldier at Zabamari Muna village outside Maiduguri, the biggest city in northeast Nigeria and the birthplace of Boko Haram. <br />After yesterday's attack, police rushed to the Redeemed Christian Church of God in Potiskum, the largest city in northeastern Yobe state. <br />Wailing women and stunned men wandered around the wreckage of smashed bricks and twisted zinc sheets blown off the church roof. <br />One churchgoer said the blast came from a woman in the congregation. She was too scared to give her name. <br />Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday condemned the latest attacks as barbaric and said they underline the need for an expanded multinational army to crush the extremists. <br />Mr Buhari's spokesman Femi Adesina said at the weekend that a multinational capability with the power to "devastate and decapitate" the insurgency would soon be in place. <br />Boko Haram took control of a large swathe of northeast Nigeria last year and declared an Islamic caliphate. <br />As it stepped up cross-border attacks, Nigeria and its neighbours deployed a multinational army that this year drove them out. <br />But attacks are increasing as Boko Haram apparently responds to an Isil group directive to intensify violence during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. <br />At least 13,000 people have died in the six-year-old Islamic uprising that has driven 1.5 million people from their homes.
