Two girls die exploding bombs in Nigerian market
Print Edition
TWO girl suicide bombers died yesterday when they exploded devices in a crowded area near a market in Nigeria’s northeastern city of Maiduguri, injuring 17 other people.
Abubakar Musa, one of the survivors, said he saw the bodies of soldiers among the victims. The soldiers were guarding a nearby electric power installation.
Officials blamed the Boko Haram Islamic extremist group that has staged numerous attacks in Maiduguri, the birthplace of the insurgency.
One bomber appeared no older than 7 and the other not much older, said Abdulkadir Jabo, a civilian self-defense fighter who stopped them from going into the market.
“I asked the older girl where she was going but she could not speak Hausa or Kanuri ... and appeared very unsettled, so I turned her back,” he said.
Seconds later, she “detonated,” followed by the younger girl, Jabo added.
Police Commissioner Damian Chukwu identified the bombers as teenaged girls.
Boko Haram has used scores of women and girls in suicide bombings, prompting suspicions that some are among the many thousands they have kidnapped over the years.
Last month a woman suicide bomber carrying a baby on her back was shot by soldiers at a checkpoint. The shot detonated her explosives, killing the woman and the baby.
Yesterday’s blasts occurred near Maiduguri’s Monday Market, just weeks after the state government reopened the roads leading to the market. They had been closed for nearly two years over security concerns after previous bombings at the market killed dozens of people.
On Friday, two women suicide bombers were killed exploding their bombs in a market at Madagali, 150 kilometers southeast of Maiduguri, killing at least 57 people and wounding 177 including 120 children.
Since Nigeria’s military has dislodged insurgents from towns and villages this year, Boko Haram has attacked soft targets as well as military camps. The government, however, claims it has the insurgents on the run.
President Muhammadu Buhari declared the Islamic uprising “technically defeated” a year ago.
On Friday, he vowed the military was working “at slamming the final nail in the coffin of Boko Haram.”
The seven-year insurgency has killed more than 20,000 people. Boko Haram, which has one branch allied to the Islamic State group, wants to install an Islamic state in Nigeria.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
