Islamic State claims northeastern Nigeria bar bomb injuring 11, second blast in days

Explosives planted at a bar in northeast Nigeria injured 11 people, police said Saturday, the second attack in days targeting drinking spots in Taraba state and claimed by affiliates of the Islamic State group.

The blast went off at a moonshine bar in Nukkai, outside state capital Jalingo around 1900 GMT on Friday, police spokesman Usman Abdullahi, told AFP.

"The explosive concealed in a polythene bag was left at the bar by an unknown person during a power outage," he said.

"Eleven people were injured in the blast, including 10 men and a woman."

On Saturday, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) claimed responsibility.

"The soldiers of the caliphate detonated an explosive device, inside a bar in Nukkai," the group said on Telegram, claiming the attack wounded 10 people.

On Tuesday, an explosion at a bar in the nearby town of Iware killed six people and injured 16 others, police said.

ISWAP claimed that blast in a statement posted on IS propaganda channels monitored by SITE Intelligence.

That was the first indication that ISWAP is operating in Taraba, outside its habitual area of operations in the Lake Chad region.

Taraba is one of several northern states where criminal gangs, branded bandits, raid villages, kill residents, loot and burn homes and kidnap for ransom.

There have been increasing concerns about growing ties between jihadists and bandits who are motivated by financial motives with no ideological leaning.

ISWAP and rival Boko Haram are known to step up attacks during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

On Wednesday, ISWAP killed 11 people, including nine, at a bar in northeast Nigeria's Yobe state.

A 13-year Islamist insurgency has killed 40,000 people and displaced two million in north-eastern Nigeria, according to the United Nations.