A bomb blast that went off just minutes after Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan left an election campaign rally was the work of a female suicide bomber, police said on Tuesday.

The bomb exploded near a stadium in the northeastern Nigerian city of Gombe on Monday, setting a car ablaze, killing one person and wounding 18.

Gombe state police spokesman Fwaje Atajiri said by telephone that the bomber had been a female with explosives strapped to her, a sign it was the work of Islamist militant group Boko Haram, although no one has claimed responsibility.

Nigeria is due to hold a presidential election February 14, pitting the ruling People’s Democratic Party’s (PDP) Jonathan against former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari for the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC).

Boko Haram militants are stepping up their campaign of violence ahead of the election.

The military repelled an attack by insurgents on the outskirts of the northeast’s main city of Maiduguri on Sunday, their second assault in a week on a city they hope to make the capital of a breakaway Islamist state.

Meanwhile, Chadian troops have entered the northern Nigerian town of Gambaru on the border with Cameroon that has been under the control of Boko Haram for several months, Chadian military sources said on Tuesday.

The Nigerian government and military officials were not immediately available to comment.

“Our troops entered Nigeria this morning. The combat is ongoing,” one of the sources at Chad’s army headquarters told Reuters.

Chad has deployed some 2,500 troops as part of a regional effort to take on the militant group that has waged a bloody insurgency to create an Islamist emirate in northern Nigeria.

During a weekend summit, the African Union (AU) authorized a force of 7,500 troops from Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Benin to fight the militants. It is expected to seek a United Nations Security Council mandate, which could also include logistical support from other countries.
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