DAMATURU, Nigeria (AP) — Police in northeastern Nigeria say a suicide bomber has killed six soldiers and two civilians in a city wracked by violence.

Yobe state police chief Patrick Egbuniwe said a suspected member of the radical Islamist sect Boko Haram on Sunday set off explosives in a car after being surrounded by military patrol vehicles in the city of Damaturu.

Egbuniwe said six soldiers were killed, and nine others were hospitalized.

Attacks blamed on the Islamist sect have been on the rise in the city since Boko Haram carried out a series of deadly attacks in Damaturu in June.

Boko Haram is held responsible for more than 650 deaths this year alone according to an Associated Press count.