Death toll rises to 50 in Nigeria suicide blast: police

ABUJA -- The death toll from an early Tuesday suicide attack inside a local mosque in the northeastern Nigeria town of Mubi has risen to 50, according to the police.

Othman Abubakar, a spokesman for the police, told reporters the dawn attack was perpetrated by an unidentified teenage boy who set off the suicide vest he wore to the mosque in a suburb town of Mubi in the northern state of Adamawa.

"We have 50 dead and we are now trying to get the exact number of those injured," Abubakar said.

The teenage attacker detonated the bomb immediately after the prayers inside the local mosque.

Eyewitnesses told Xinhua most of the wounded victims were in critical conditions.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the suicide blast, but the security authorities and local residents are suspecting terror group Boko Haram to have carried out the attack.

In October 2014, Mubi was captured and under the control of Boko Haram.

Less than a month later, government forces conquered Boko Haram in the town and recaptured the town from them.

The attack early Tuesday was the first in the town since it was recaptured from Boko Haram three years ago.

Boko Haram has been blamed for the death of more than 20,000 people and displacement of 2.3 million others in Nigeria since 2009.