SUICIDE attack by a female bomber killed at least seven people at a market in northeast Nigeria on Thursday, the latest bloodshed in a region where multi-national forces are trying to crush Boko Haram Islamists. 

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack in the town of Biu, Borno State, but it resembled a spate of similar bombings blamed on the Islamists militants. 

Biu is the second largest town, and located 187 kilometres south of Maiduguri the Borno state capital.

According to a vigilante youth, Abdu Alhaji Abdu, the female suspect initially targeted the central market that holds every Thursday to kill as many people trooping into the market, but the bomb hid in her flowing veil however; exploded with a deafening sound that rocked the town over a distance of 15 kilometres.

The blast followed a foiled suicide attack on Wednesday and a Boko Haram raid on police earlier this week in neighbouring Yobe state. 

The conflict has killed more than 13,000 since 2009 and become an increasing regional threat, forcing a six-week delay to Nigeria’s general elections, as neighbouring countries begin a fight-back. 

Nigeria, Cameroun, Chad and Niger this month launched an unprecedented joint effort to crush the uprising, raising hopes that this new cooperation could turn the tide.

President Goodluck Jonathan on Wednesday vowed that “serious advances will be made” over the next six weeks, meaning security will have improved by the new election day, March 28. 

“But I’m not saying (we will) wipe out Boko Haram,” he added.

In Niger, attacked by the insurgents for the first time last week, the ruling coalition called for a national protest on February 17, urging people to “close ranks” against “the terrorists of Boko Haram.”