BEVERLY HILLS, March 15, (THEWILL) – Another bomb blast has been averted in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, northeastern Nigeria.
This is as troops of the Nigerian Army Saturday detonated two powerful Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) at an Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp located at the Government Girls Secondary School, Yerwa, Maiduguri.
The IEDs were believed to have been planted in the camp by Boko Haram insurgents.
Most of the IDPs at the Government Girls Secondary School, Yerwa are fleeing residents of Bama local government area of the state who were sacked from their communities by Boko Haram last year.
A loud explosion rocked the Borno capital about 6:30pm when the soldiers defused the IEDs as residents of the town scampered for safety with major roads deserted.
Normalcy however returned upon confirmation that the explosions were not fresh bomb attacks by members of the terrorist group.
Speaking on the incident, Ba’ana Goni, a youth vigilante member, said the bombs might have been smuggled into the area by some moles working for Boko Haram in order to cause confusion at the camp.
But a source within the camp told THEWILL that the explosives were smuggled into the camp by a young man who fled Bama and took refuge at the camp.
He said the young man was well known to all at the camp but no one suspected him of being a Boko Haram member.
“We were just about performing Magrib prayers in the camp when several soldiers in patrol vehicles arrived in the camp and directed us to assemble at a particular direction, we hurriedly did so.
“Few minutes later they told us two bombs were planted here but we should not panic as the perpetrators were arrested and that they were now ready to direct the military to the precise scene where the devices were planted.
“One of the soldiers brought out a blindfolded person from one the vehicles, who looked like someone between 19 to 21 years. The soldier then unmasked the person and to our dismay, he turned out be a youth who we all recognised because he had been friends to most of us,” he said.
