BEVERLY HILLS, November 25, (THEWILL) – Two female suicide bombers, Tuesday morning, rocked Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, killing no fewer than 35 persons and injuring 42 others in the town’s main market.
Military sources in the town said the suicide bombers, a male and a female, rocked the market around 11:23 am on Tuesday.
“I can confirm that they were two suicide bombers and they were a male and a female. The first suicide bomber was a female and hid the bomb inside herself which she detonated at the vicinity of the market.
“Just as the people were gathered around her corpses and few other people that died in the first explosion, a male this time around detonated the explosive on himself, killing several people,” a soldier said, though he could not confirm the casualty figure.
According to him, “No one can give you the exact casualty now but over 30 persons were killed and many have been rushed to the hospital,” though some traders had earlier said the two bombers were females.
“As I am talking to you, we are still trying to rescue the injured and evacuate the corpses. I cannot give you a number yet but there are lot of people dead,” a trader in the market, Abba Kolo, also said.
Kolo’s disclosure came as a Civilian JTF member, Hassan Ibrahim, said the female bomber had kept a parcel in one of the shops in a commercial area beside the market, telling the traders that she had something to pick from the market, only for the parcel to explode a few minutes later.
According to Ibrahim, “As people were still wondering what had happened and trying to rescue the injured, another woman in the same area detonated a bomb planted on her and this claimed so many lives.”
However, Ali Bukar, a trader who could not confirm the gender of the suicide bombers, said: “They were two suicide bombers. The first detonated himself, killing many people and as people were running for their lives the other bomber detonated his own, killing yet many more. I don’t know how many people were killed but about 14 tricycles evacuated corpses to the hospital.” According to him, the majority of those killed were the traders .
Sources at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH) told THEWILL that 35 corpses were brought into the hospital morgue from the site of the explosion with 42 others brought to the hospital for varying degrees of injuries.
Confirming the bombings, the Public Relations Officer of the Borno Police Command, Gideon Jubrin , said: “I can confirm to you that there was an explosion at the Maiduguri Monday market today but I cannot give you details now as our men and the military are on ground to restore law and order.”
According to him, “Whatever figure you heard from the hospital sources are their own figure, but as you know we are still evacuating corpses. We have not yet counted the corpses. This is a sad situation, I will update you whenever we are able to clear the scene and know the casualty figure.”
The explosion has resulted in a security alert in the town with serious screening of people going into public places as well as vehicles plying the town’s major roads, resulting in a traffic gridlock.
According to local sources, there are fears in Maiduguri that some Boko Haram insurgents may have followed some of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) to the town.
“They (the insurgents) followed the IDPs to town. They even slaughtered two people in one of the camps and they have been going about causing havoc in some parts of the state,” a Civilian JTF member said, craving anonymity.
