Around 32 people were killed and 80 injured after an explosion in Yola, a town in north-east Nigeria, on Tuesday night, Agence France-Presse reported. It was not clear whether the blast was caused by a suicide bomber or an improvised explosive device, but it bore telltale signs of an attack by militant group Boko Haram, which has targeted the town several times in the past. Locals and Red Cross officials said the explosion took place in a lorry parking lot, which had a livestock market, an open-air restaurant and a mosque in the vicinity.

The area was cordoned off immediately and rescue operations were conducted in the dark, owing to poor power connectivity in the area. The town has several camps for people displaced (pictured above) because of militant violence in other parts of the country. President Muhammadu Buhari had visited the town just last week and said that Boko Haram was close to being defeated, with his commanders being given a month to crush the rebels. The blast was the first in Nigeria in November, though on October 27, a blast in Jambutu killed 27, while 20 people were killed in September in a bomb blast in Yola.