Six people, including two suspected suicide bombers, have died in two bomb explosions that occurred on Tuesday in Damaturu, Yobe State capital.
Abubakar Shekau
Yobe Police Command Public Relations Officer, DSP Toyin Gbadegeshin, confirmed the incident to the News Agency of Nigeria.
Gbadegeshin said three others were in critical condition, while 40 others, who sustained various degrees of injury, had been taken to hospitals in the area.
He said one of the explosions involving a female suicide bomber of about 12 years of age, happened at the entrance of the Damaturu main motor park.
“The girl detonated the explosive at the screening centre of the motor park gate, killing herself and four others, including a pregnant woman and a baby.
“The other explosive went off at about the same time with the first one at Pompomari, when a suspected male suicide bomber, sensing he will be apprehended, ran into a nearby bush and the explosive went off, killing him alone,” the police spokesman said.
Meanwhile, Director of Press to Yobe Governor, Alhaji Abdullahi Bego, described the incident as “sad and unfortunate.”
NAN reports that officials of the State Emergency Management Agency and hospital staff were providing emergency support to the victims.
No fewer than 19 persons were killed in a suicide attack on a market in Damaturu, the Yobe State capital, on Sunday.
Bomb Scene
The State Police Command has, however, said 15 people died and 47 others were injured in the explosion.
The Police Public Relations Officer of the Yobe State Police Command, Toyin Gbadegesin, told journalists that a female suicide bomber, whose age he believed could not more be more than 10 years, carried out the attack.
He said the small girl detonated an Improvised Explosive Device at the entrance of the market at about 9.30am on Sunday.
He said preliminary report indicated that 15 people had been killed while 47 others, who were injured, were receiving treatment at the Sani Abacha Specialist Hospital in Damaturu.
The PPRO explained that five units of primed IEDs were also recovered from the scene of the blast, warning the people to be careful with people carrying bags as the militants had resorted to using bags in conveying their explosive devices.
Meanwhile, the Yobe State Governor, Ibrahim Gaidam, in a statement by his Director of Press, Abdullahi Bego, on Sunday, described the attack as horrific.
The governor said “has been briefed about the horrific bomb attack in a market in Damaturu today, in which 19 people were killed and many others injured.”
The statement added, “This is another sad day in our state in which innocent people were again the target of blood-thirsty terrorists.
“His Excellency Governor Gaidam’s thoughts and prayers are with the families of victims and those who sustained injuries. The governor has condemned the attack as callous, barbaric and unjustifiable.”
The Police Command in Yobe has recovered four bombs, two improvised explosives, six mortar bombs, a machine gun and two Ak47 rifles inside a damaged Toyota Highlander, belonging to insurgents, an official said.
Police Inspector General, Solomon Arase
Mr Markus Danladi, the Yobe State Commissioner of Police, made the fact known while displaying the ammunition to newsmen in Damaturu.
He said the bombs and improvised explosive devices were discovered in the trunk of the jeep which occupants died on Monday in an explosion from a device.
The commissioner explained that five suspected suicide bombers were stopped for search on the Maiduguri-Damaturu highway on Monday by a police patrol team.
He said the suspected bombers detonated explosives killing themselves and three policemen, while two other policemen sustained injuries.
“On July 21, a team of police investigators on thorough search of the wrecked jeep discovered six bombs neatly concealed in the trunk of the vehicle comprising of four 81mm caliber rifles and two improvised bombs,’’ he said.
The police boss also said six mortar bombs were discovered in the handbag of a female member of the suspected suicide bombers.
Danladi said that the recovered bombs had a range of 1,000m radius and urged security operatives on the highway to be vigilant.
The commissioner also said the police recovered one general purpose machine gun, two AK47 rifles and hundreds of ammunition from insurgents who were repelled in an attempted attack on Bara town.
The commissioner called on motorists and the public to cooperate with security agencies to ensure security of lives and property.
The authorities of the Nigerian Army have confirmed that 50 people lost their lives in two bomb explosions that rocked Damaturu, the Yobe State capital, on Friday.
Bomb Scene
The Acting Director, Army Public Relations, Col. Sani Usman, said in a statement on Friday that 43 persons died in the first explosion which occurred at 7.40am and seven others in the second explosion.
Several other people were also said to have sustained different degrees of injuries from the two explosions.
It was stated that a ten year old girl and an elderly woman carried out the two attacks at the screening area for the Eid prayers in Damaturu.
The explosions occurred while the screening of intending worshippers for the early morning prayers was taking place at Layin Geange and ‘Phase 1 ‘ in front of the former Yobe State Secretariat, in Damaturu.
Usman said the situation was under control.
One of the residents, Musa Yusuf, who also spoke to our correspondent on the telephone, said “there is apprehension in Damaturu as I am talking to you, we are celebrating Sallah in fear with these explosions this morning.”
Yusuf said, “It is hard to ascertain the number of casualties now but the military and policemen are everywhere keeping watch on the town.”
Usman, who urged citizens to be calm and vigilant, said the Chief of Army Staff, Maj. Gen Tukur Buratai, and the Yobe State Governor, Ibrahim Geidam, sympathised with the families of the victims of the unfortunate incidents
He said, “The situation is under control. Both Yobe State Governor and the Chief of Army Staff sympathise with and urged the people to stay calm and be security conscious.
“No amount of terrorist act would deter our resolve to stamp out terrorism and insurgency.”
Thirteen people were killed in a triple attack in the northeastern Nigerian city of Damaturu on Friday, medics said.
Two people were killed in twin explosions that rocked the city before a third moments later near a mosque that left another 11 dead, the latest attacks in the region where Boko Haram Islamists are waging an insurgency.
“For now we have 13 dead bodies brought to the hospital,” a medical source who wished to remain anonymous told AFP.
The Police in Yobe State on Sunday confirmed the killing of six persons in a suicide bomb attack on a church in Potiskum.
Police Public Relations Officer of the state command, Mr. Toyin Gbadegesin, told the News Agency of Nigeria in Damaturu that the death included the suicide bomber.
The police spokesman said, “A male suicide bomber detonated a bomb at Redeem Church at Jigawa area of Potiskum, killing five on the spot.
“A female member of the church, who sustained injuries, also died while receiving treatment in the hospital.”
He said the injured were receiving treatment at various health facilities in the area.
NAN recalls that Potiskum last suffered a twin suicide attack on June 15, in which 10 people were killed and several others injured.
The Police in Yobe State, on Monday confirmed the death of nine persons in twin bomb explosions which rocked Potiskum, the commercial nerve center of the State.
Mr Toyin Gbadegeshin, the Police Public Relations Officer, in Yobe, confirmed the explosions to the News Agency of Nigeria in Potiskum.
Gbadegeshin said one of the bombers targeted the vigilante office, killing seven persons, while two others died in the second explosion which occurred at Dorowa Ward in the town.
“At about 12.25hrs, twin suicide bombers struck at Dorowa at the vigilante office and near Lara filling station, killing Ado Kwamanda and six of his men.”
“Two people, including the bomber, died in the second attack,” he said.
NAN recalls that suspected insurgents attacked Babbangida, headquarters of Tarmuwa Local Government Area on Sunday, looted food stuff and burnt public and private structures, including stores.
No fewer than seven people were killed and 26 others injured on Saturday when a female suicide bomber detonated an Improvised Explosive Device at the entrance of the Damaturu Central Motor Park in Yobe.
Garba Fika, a Medical Director, Sani Abacha General Hospital, Damaturu, gave the figure while briefing Gov. Ibrahim Gaidam about the condition of the victims on Saturday in Damaturu.
“We received a total of 33 victims of bomb blast that occurred an hour ago; all of them sustained various degree of injuries, out of which seven are dead, while seven are under a very critical condition,” he said.
“We might refer those under critical condition to the Federal Medical Centre, Nguru and Federal Medical Centre Azare in Bauchi State respectively.
“Already, the Yobe State government had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with these health institutions, in case of emergency of this nature.”
The medical director, however, said that the victims with mild injuries were responding to treatment and would be discharged soon.
He assured the governor that the management of the hospital had mobilised all medical personnel needed to ensure that the victims received proper medical attention.
Mr. Fika called on the resident of Damaturu to donate blood in order to save the lives of the victims, stressing that they were in dire need of blood .
Responding, Mr. Gaidam condemned the incident , describing it as “very unfortunate”.
He commiserated with the families of the victims and prayed for the repose of the souls of those who died as a result of the incident.
The governor, who promised to settle the medical bills of all the victims, expressed optimism that insurgency would soon be a thing of the past in the country.
Mr. Gaidam advised people to be security conscious, report any suspicious movement around them, and cooperate with the security agents to enable them discharge their duties effectively.
As at the time of filing the report, the police were yet to issue any statement on the incident.
Contacted on telephone for his comments , the Yobe Police Command’s Public Relations Officer, Toyin Gbadageshan, said he was out of town, while the telephone lines of the Police Commissioner, were not going through.
No fewer than 14 persons were injured on Friday as a suicide bomber attacked the College of Administrative and Business Studies in Potiskum, Yobe State.
According to the college’s information department, the bomber, who was armed with Improvised Explosive Devices and AK47 rifle, stormed the premises at about 8:00 am and started shooting at students and teachers.
It was gathered that some people made effort to apprehend the bomber when they noticed that he had run out of ammunition after a prolonged shooting, but the attacker, having realised the move, detonated the IED. He died on the spot while others nearby were injured.
The police spokesperson, Mr. Toyin Gbadegesin, who confirmed the incident, said the attacker killed himself and injured many others.
He also said the situation had been brought under control and security forces were working round the area to restore normalcy.
Gbadegesin called on members of the public to be vigilant and report suspicious people to security agencies for prompt action.
Meanwhile, a source at the Potiskum General Hospital told our correspondent on the telephone that six of the injured persons had been referred to the Federal Medical Centre in Nguru also in Yobe State.
She said the remaining eight are currently under observation at the Potiskum hospital.
She said, “Those on referral to the Federal Medical Centre in Nguru suffered gunshot injuries while the eight currently on medical observations at the Potiskum General Hospital had health problems ranging from shock as a result of the attack as well as minor injuries while fleeing the scene of the attack.”
Suspected Boko Haram gunmen shot dead 21 people in Yobe state who were trying to return home to recover abandoned food supplies, a local official and a victim’s relative said Monday. “The men, 21 of them, were stopped at Bultaram (village) by gunmen we believe are Boko Haram who shot them dead,” said Baba Nuhu, an official with the Gujba local government.
Nuhu and Haruna Maram, the brother of one of the victims, spoke to newsmen from Yobe’s capital Damaturu, where many Gujba residents have fled to seek refuge from Boko Haram violence.
“My brother and 20 others wanted to bring back their grains to augment their lean food supplies to feed their families,” Maram said.
“Unfortunately, they were killed by (the) same Boko Haram we ran away from.” Gujba is one of a handful of districts in Yobe that Boko Haram captured during a sweeping offensive last year. The area has been hit by waves of attacks through the six-year Islamist uprising, including a massacre at an agricultural college in 2013 that targeted students sleeping their dormitories.
The military has claimed a series of successes against Boko Haram in an operation launched in February with neighbouring Chad, Cameroon and Niger. Scores of towns previously under rebel control have reportedly been liberated.
Nigeria’s military and outgoing president Goodluck Jonathan have encouraged those displaced by the uprising to return home, declaring much of the northeast safe for resettlement.
But community leaders in the embattled region have warned civilians are still at risk of Islamist attacks, especially those returning to remote areas like Gujba where the military’s deployment has typically been thin. Security experts have cautioned that the Islamists are far from defeated and are still capable of launching hit-and-run attacks.
Nigerian troop on weekend recaptured Buni Yadi and Buni Yari from the islamic terrorist, Boko Haram after the troop pledged alligiance to IS.
The Acting Director of Army Public Relations, Col Sani Usman, in a statement, said during the operations, the troops encountered little resistance as the insurgents were on the run. “Cordon and search and mopping up operations are ongoing in these areas. Operations by troops are also continuing to recover the few areas remaining in the hands of terrorists,” the statement said.
It will be recalled that Boko Haram terrorists on February 25, 2014 killed 59 students in an attack on the Federal Government college Buni Yadi, in Yobe State, near the state’s capital city of Damaturu. According to the state Police Commissioner Sanusi Rufai, “some of the students’ bodies were burned to ashes.”
Rufai said all those killed were boys. He said the school’s 24 buildings, including staff quarters, were completely burned to the ground.
President Goodluck Jonathan called the attack “callous and senseless murder…by deranged terrorists and fanatics who have clearly lost all human morality and descended to bestiality”.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian military has raised concern over careless talks and undue exuberance by some individuals from the military of neighbouring countries involved in the Multinational Joint Task Force (MJNTF), which it argued have the implication of destabilising the spirit of the joint efforts against terrorism within the sub-region.
Reacting to a purported statement in some media by officials from the MJTF that troops from Niger and Chad made deep incursions into Nigerian territory to battle Boko Haram elements, Director Defence Information, Major General Chris Olukolade, advised that it is necessary for officers from participating countries to beware of the terms they use while speaking with the press and also understand the implications of those terms.
According to him: “The location in question has to be mentioned before one can confirm whether it is part of an assigned or authorised mission or an incursion as described. This campaign against terror only makes provision for collaboration and cooperation; not incursion into territories. I think there is a careless use of terms by some inexperienced people or officials eager to make impression without understanding the implications. There’s no allowance for incursion here.
“The truth is that there were some preemptive manoeuvres along an axis in the theatre. Nigerian forces were also involved. It is unfortunate if that is what this young man is reporting in this false and divisive way. He may have to be called to order to stop this exuberant attitude of misinforming people as this is not good for our collective efforts. We will take this up where it matters.”
The Director, Defence Information, Maj. Gen Chris Olukolade, has said that troops of the Nigerian Army have recaptured more towns from the members of the Boko Haram sect on Friday.
Olukolade said in a statement on Friday that the troops handed out a crushing defeat to the insurgents and recovered the headquarters of Gulani Local Government Area of Yobe State, Bara, and the headquarters of Madagali Local Government area, Gulag, from them in the early hours of Friday.
He said that the troops also flushed out terrorists from other locations such as Shikah, Fikayel, Tetebah, Buza, Kamla and Bumsa, during the two-day operation.
He said that several of the insurgents were killed in the fierce fighting that preceded the liberation of the communities.
The Defence Spokesman said that the troops recovered and destroyed several arms and ammunition, vehicles and other equipment.
According to him, the items recovered included Anti-Air Craft Guns, General Purpose Machine Guns, Barrel Grenade Launchers, rifles and mortar guns.
Ten persons might have lost their lives in a suicide bombing at a motor park in Potiskum, the commercial capital of Yobe State, on Tuesday.
A resident of the town, Ali Mohammed, who spoke to our correspondent on the telephone, said corpses were still being retrieved from the bus station but “at present ten corpses have been picked.”
He added that the male suicide bomber pretended to be a passenger in a vehicle still loading at the motor park along the Kano Road in the town.
The bomb was detonated in the bus by the suicide bomber, killing the bomber and nine others.
The incident happened at about 11.45am in the Toyota bus, marked Kano XA 592 GBT.
On Sunday, five persons were killed by a female suicide bomber at a phone market in the town, following an explosion, which also injured 40 persons.
A young girl suicide bomber Sunday blew herself up and five others when the explosive devices strapped to her body detonated in a market in Nigeria’s northesatern city of Potiskum, witnesses said.
Nineteen others who sustained various degrees of injury were taken to hospital after the blast, a local vigilante leader told AFP.
“So far, five people were killed with the girl while 19 others have been taken to hospital for injuries,” Buba Lawan said. Witnesses said she appeared to be as young as seven-years-old.
A female suicide bomber believed to be 10 years old on Sunday struck at the Damaturu Central Motor Park, killing herself and nine other people.
A police station set ablaze by Boko Haram in Kwadam, Gombe State… on Saturday | credits: AFP
The state Police Command Public Relations Officer, Toyin Gbadegesin, said 31 others were critically injured in the blast which occurred at about 12.20pm.
Gbadegesin explained that the bomber had targeted security personnel on patrol at the park who suspected her movement and turned her away.
He said, “At about 12.10pm, a Hijab-wearing female suicide bomber came into the park and went to the security vehicle there. She was turned back by our men. She then went to a commercial Volkswagen vehicle that was half-loaded and suddenly, the bomb exploded
“Ten people died and 31 were critically injured. The wounded people are at the Gen. Sani Abatcha Hospital in Damaturu. We have condoned off the area and investigation is currently ongoing.”
When journalists visited the scene of the blast at about 3.30pm on Monday, operatives and men of the state fire service were still battling to put out the fire from the bus.
An eyewitness, Ibrahim Mohammed, said he was the only person close to the scene of the explosion that was not wounded.
“The sound of the explosion was deafening. I was shaken by it and as I talk to you, I am still hearing strange sounds. I suspect the bomber could not have been more than 10 years.”
Sunday’s blast is the second targeting a densely populated area in Damaturu. The first was last June when nine football fans watching the Brazil 2014 world cup tournament at a viewing centre were killed by a bomber.
Meanwhile, the United States Department of Defence has said there is no discussion between Washington and President Goodluck Jonathan on deployment of American troops in Nigeria.
It however clarified that discussions on troops to combat the Islamist militant group, Boko Haram, was just beginning based on the formation of the Multi-national Joint Task Force.
Jonathan had in an interview with the Wall Street Journal on Friday criticised the US for being unwilling to support the Federal Government in fighting insurgents in Nigeria’s North-East.
He said the country had in early 2014 reached out to the US for assistance, adding, “Are they (America) not fighting ISIS? Why can’t they come to Nigeria? …they are our friends. If Nigeria has a problem, then I expect the US to come and assist us.”
But the US Department of Defence spokesman, John Kirby, said, “There is a discussion but it is of a multinational task force that the international community is working with certain African nations to establish. That is right now still in the discussion phase.
“I don’t have a timeline for that. But we believe that we support the discussion and dialogue toward establishing a multinational task force that can operate there to help improve partner capacity, to improve counter-terrorism capabilities.
“But these are discussions (that) are really just now starting. I can also tell you that there are no plans as I speak here to send unilaterally, to send or to add US troops into Nigeria. There are no US troops operating in Nigeria.”
Kirby, however, noted that the US was not ruling out sending ground forces as part of the multinational task force.
“There’s nothing being ruled out or ruled in. These discussions are really just starting. So, I think it’d be premature to say I know exactly what the US component would be or to characterise it. We’re just not there, yet,” he added.
The United Nations Security Council has condemned “in the strongest terms,” the continued escalation of attacks by Boko Haram terrorists on Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon and Niger.
“The members of the Security Council reaffirm that terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, including the actions of Boko Haram, constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security,” it said in statement on Friday night.
It described the attacks as “criminal and unjustifiable,” regardless of their motivation.
The council also reiterated its determination to combat all forms of terrorism, in accordance with its responsibilities under the UN Charter.
The UN body also stressed the need to bring perpetrators, organisers, financiers and sponsors of acts of terrorism to justice.
Six persons were on Sunday killed in a fresh suicide bomb attack in Potiskum, Yobe State, residents of the town have said.
Potiskum, in recent times, have been at the receiving end of such attacks which have claimed several lives.
Though no one has claimed responsibility for the attacks, they are believed to have been carried out by members of the radical Islamic sect, Boko Haram.
Witnesses said the explosions occurred around 1:20pm on Sunday, in front of the residence of the People’s Democratic Party candidate for the Potiskum/Nangere federal constituency in Yobe State, Sabo Garbu, opposite the Federal Government College in the town.
A witness, Ali, said the bomber came to the residence of the politician and detonated the explosives just in front of his house.
He said he was hosting a lot of party supporters at the time.
He said the explosive killed six persons on the spot with several others sustaining injuries.
Police are yet to confirm the incident but an hospital authority, who pleaded anonymity, said six corpses where brought to the hospital.
