SAN FRANCISCO, March 07, (THEWILL) – No fewer than 50 residents of Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, were feared killed, Saturday, as suicide bombers suspected to be members of Boko Haram sect rocked three locations in the metropolis, namely a spot near the Baga market, another by the Monday market and the Borno Express Motor park, injuring many others.
Saturday’s explosions , which local residents say occurred between 11am and 12noon, were believed to be one of the worst in the series of attacks by insurgents in the state capital as the terrorists were said to have carefully targeted areas of high human traffic for their deadly operations.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a local youth vigilante member, craving anonymity, said out of the three locations, Baga was mostly affected with a casualty figure of 36 death and over 70 persons injured.
According to him, “This is perhaps one of the worst days in the history of this insurgency as it seems the terrorist group carefully selected centres of high human traffic in Maiduguri,
“The worst of the attack was at the Baga market where 36 persons were killed and over 70 were injured. At the Monday market, 12 persons were killed with over 20 injured and at the Borno Express bus terminus, two persons were killed and 10 persons injured.”
Corroborating the report, spokesperson of the Civilian JTF in the state, Barrister Jubrin Gunda, said though he could not confirm if the attacks were perpetrated by females or males, the terrorists targeted the three locations because of their heavy traffic of people.
“I cannot give you the details of dead persons now, but it was an unfortunate incident, the casualty figure is huge at all the spots.
“It will be hard to tell you now if the attacks were by males or females, but all I can say is that they were suicide attacks,” he said.
Meanwhile, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has dispatched a rescue team from the Northeast zonal office of the agency to the areas affected by the explosions .
“I cannot state at present if they were attacks by suicide bombers but this I should be able to tell you later,” a NEMA official said on condition of anonymity.
However, Ibrahim Ishaq , who resides in the metropolis, said the attacks were massive, stressing : “I just saw a Red Cross ambulance conveying those that were killed to the mortuary.”
Major roads in the town were also cordoned off by the military as fear gripped most residents of the town.
