(Bloomberg) -- Three suicide bombers killed eight people in the Nigerian city of Maiduguri on Saturday morning, according to police. The attack happened hours after the nation delayed a general election scheduled for the same day.
Suspected militants of the Boko Haram Islamist group entered an area near a mosque with guns and explosives strapped to their bodies at about 5:40 a.m., Damian Chukwu, a police spokesman, said by text message. The three bombers also died in the attack.
Read more: Nigeria's Last-Minute Postponement Throws Vote Into Disarray
Maiduguri is the capital of Borno state, the epicenter of Boko Haram's decade-long insurgency to impose its version of Shariah law on Nigeria. The northeastern city has mostly been secure in recent months, even as Boko Haram and a breakaway faction affiliated to Islamic State have wreaked havoc in the rest of Borno.
Lagos-based Channels TV reported the attack earlier.
To contact the reporters on this story: Paul Wallace in Lagos at pwallace25@bloomberg.net;Michael Olukayode in Maiduguri at molugbode1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Sophie Mongalvy at smongalvy@bloomberg.net, Paul Armstrong, Christopher Elser
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