Female suicide bombers invaded Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, and Madagali in Adamawa State on Sunday and Monday despite FG victory posture against the Boko Haram sect.
Over the weekend, President Buhai declared that the war against Boko Haram insurgents had been "technically won." Buhari said the terrorists could no longer mount "conventional attacks" against security forces or population centres.
But hours later, the terrorists attacked some Borno villages on Sunday and carried out multiple attacks in Maiduguri and Madagali yesterday. The terror attacks in Borno on Sunday and Monday left 52 people dead while Monday’s attack in Adamawa claimed about 17 lives.
A mosque in Burabu rin, behind the Federal High Court in Maiduguri was attacked by a suicide bomber yesterday. The Boko Haram insurgents had, on Christmas Day, killed 15 people in Kimba village in Biu Local Government Area of Borno State.
The series of attacks were carried out by female suicide bombers. While two female terrorists carried out the attack on Madagali, 14 female bombers were involved in the Borno attacks. Yesterday’s attack in Madagali town in Adamawa State left 16 people dead while 16 other people sustained injuries. The attack was carried out by two female suicide bombers.
The terrorists attacked a busy open-air market near a park in Madagali. An eyewitness, who identified himself as Danladi Buba, said two female suicide bombers detonated an IED at a mini market near a motor park about 9 a.m., killing many people. "About 30 people were killed with 16 others injured," Buba said.
Also corroborating, a female resident, Lami Abawu, who lost a younger brother, said that petty traders and teenagers were among the victims. "As I am talking to you, I lost a younger brother in the attack. The suicide bombers were teenagers.
"Petty traders were mostly affected, because today is a market day and people are busy when the whole place was struck by the suicide bombings," she said. A local vigilante, who didn’t want to be named, said that some of the corpses have been buried by the deceased’s relatives while the injured were rushed to Mubi General Hospital and Yola, the state capital. Adamawa State Emergency Management Agency (ADSEMA) confirmed the death of 17 persons in yesterday’s bomb attack in Madagali town.
The Executive Secretary of ADSEMA, Mallam Haruna Furo, said that 41 people sustained injuries. He said that the injured were taken to hospitals in Mubi and Yola. When contacted, the Brigade Commander of 28 Task Force Brigade, Mubi, Brig.-Gen Victor Ezugwu, confirmed the incident, but said the number of casualties was yet to be verified.
"Two female suicide bombers struck at a garage in Madagali and detonated their devices and we lost some beloved country men," Ezugwu said. Ezugwu said that the injured had been taken to hospital while the military has cordoned the area.
Ezugwu stated that the situation had been brought under control and that security had been beefed up in the town. He urged the people to be vigilant and security conscious. The state governor, Senator Bindow Jibrilla condemned the attack. He said state government will pay the hospital bills of the victims. Bindow noted with concern that insurgents have resorted to using teenagers in guerrilla war. Also, the terrorists attacked a mosque in Maiduguri yesterday morning where about 20 people died.
The terrorists were repelled on Sunday by the troops of the Nigerian Army after they have killed several people. Addressing journalists at the Operation Lafiya Dole Media Centre, the Theatre Commander, Major General Yushau Abubakar, said the 14 female suicide bombers between the ages of 12 and 18 tried to force themselves into Maiduguri to cause mayhem. Abubakar stated that the female terrorists were intercepted by the troops of the Nigerian Army on patrol.
He said in the process, three of the suicide bombers detonated the Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), killing 25 persons while 85 others sustained injuries. The theatre commander, who was represented by the GOC 7 Division, Major General Lamidi Adeosun, said the terrorists intend to carry out massive and coordinated suicide attacks through Asmari, Damboa check point, Ali Dawari, Molai Kura, Baderi, and Jumari villages all in the outskirts of Maiduguri.
The commander said: "The seven other suicide bombers were gunned down by our troops while three escaped and one arrested. I believe the troops have averted what could have been a major disaster if the terrorists had gained entrance into Maiduguri. One of the terrorists that escaped went to a nearby house and requested for water to perform ablution, instead prepared herself and came to a nearby mosque and blew herself off, killing one person while 13 others were injured." He said the terrorists also, in recent time, laid ambush on troops in Mairari along Maiduguri Monguno and Firgi where 14 and seven insurgents were respectively killed.
He revealed that four soldiers died in recent attack while two others were injured. General Yushau said the insurgents’ capacity to attack has been degraded, which informed why they were attacking soft targets and laying ambush.
A source in the Borno State Specialist Hospital, Maiduguri confirmed that 28 corpses were brought into the hospital while 88 others were receiving treatment from both the Sunday and Monday attacks.
Meanwhile, the deaths toll of Maiduguri multiple suicide bombings yesterday hit 52. About 124 people that sustained injuries are being treated at the State Specialist Hospital, Umaru Shehu Ultra-Modern and the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospitals (UMTH), Maiduguri.
A member of the Civilian JTF from the area, Idiris Garba, told newsmen that over 40 people were killed with 18 of them from one family while over 150 others were injured. Chief Medical Director, Hospital Management Board, Dr. Salihu Kwaya- Bura told Governor Kashim Shettima while at the emergency ward of the State Specialist Hospital that 33 corpses and 86 injured were received at the hospital while Umaru Shehu General Hospital had one death and 21 injured. Kwaya-Bura said out of the 85 injured brought to the State Specialist Hospital; nine were referred to the UMTH, because of the critical nature of their injuries.
He said that 32 bodies were deposited in hospital morgue while 85 injured people were admitted on Sunday with nine patients referred to UMTH for further treatments for burns and multiple fractures. At the Umaru Shehu hospital, Kwaya-Bura also said that 39 injured persons were brought in on Sunday. One pregnant woman among those brought to the hospital with injury died yesterday morning.
"We were able discharge some of the injured persons, after being treated for minor burns and cuts. Right now, as I speak to you, your excellency, 15 are already admitted for the treatments of higher degree burns and gunshot wounds sustained in yesterday and today’s (Monday) multiple bomb blasts at Bakkassi, Sabon Gari and Jiddari-Polon Baderi wards of Maiduguri metropolis," said Bura.
Narrating his ordeal on the blast at a mosque behind CBN quarters, Sadik Mohammed said: "We are the only two survivors of Monday’s mosque blast of 6a.m. Three of my siblings and my father were killed and buried yesterday. "It was a female suicide bomber that attacked us with explosives strapped on her body while we were praying in the mosque located behind the CBN quarters, Maiduguri." Shettima condemned the incessant Boko Haram attacks and killings in the state. He said: "We will urge our people to be extra vigilant and to report all suspicious movements to the nearest military formations. Our head is bloody, but remains unbowed.
We believe that the worst is over and God willing, we shall strive to give hope to the hopeless." In another development, two female suicide bombers injured five people yesterday after they detonated devices at a market in Cameroon’s Far North region, a police spokesman said.
Two traders at the Bodo market in the Logone and Shari area identified the girls, who then immediately activated the explosives, Mekondane Obounou Albert said by phone. The women, who were under the age of 20, came from neighbouring Nigeria and were believed to be members of Boko Haram, he said.
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