MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) - A radical Islamist sect says it is responsible for a car suicide bombing that killed eight people in Nigeria's northeast.

An email statement attributed to a Boko Haram spokesman and obtained by The Associated Press on Monday said "one of (their) fighters" caused an explosion Sunday in the city of Damaturu.

Police say six soldiers and two civilians were killed in Sunday's blast.

The statement also claimed responsibility for two other attacks in two other northeast Nigerian cities. It was not immediately clear which attacks it was referring to.

The statement comes after an Internet video featuring the sect's leader was posted on YouTube Saturday.

Boko Haram is held responsible for more than 660 deaths this year alone according to an AP count.

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