Bomb blast in Nigeria kills 18

A car bomb in Nigeria has killed eighteen people and left 15 injured.

The blast happened in Maiduguri, the capital of the north eastern state of Borno.

The car bomb hit a taxi as it was part of a convoy travelling towards a remote town near the border with Cameroon.

Cars often travel in Borno in convoys organized by the military to minimise the risk of Boko Haram ambushes in rural areas.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the blast, but Maiduguri is the birthplace of the Boko Haram militant insurgency.

The army has retaken much of the territory initially lost to the militants but Boko Haram still stages suicide bomb attacks and plants roadside bombs.

Boko Haram, which has pledged alliance to IS, has killed about 15,000 people and displaced more than 2 million in its attempt to create a Sharia state.

Reuters