Suicide Bombers kill 64 In Maiduguri

Barely 24 hours after suspected Boko Haram members disguised as traders and attacked two villages in Abadam local government area, near the Nigerian border killing not less than 50 persons, Maiduguri, the Borno state capital was thrown into confusion following explosion at the city centre in Monday Market, where eyewitnesses said, many people were killed in the explosion.

A trader, Amadi Nuhu, who spoke to journalists said, "They were two suicide bombers. The first bomber killed many people including himself and as people were running to safety another bomber detonated his own killing many more. I don't know how many people were killed but about 14 Keke Napep (tricycles )evacuated corpses to the specialists hospital."

According to Nuhu, most of the traders along the axis where the suicide bombers attacked, were killed in the explosion, with many others who came to the market to buy goods.

Also speaking with members of the civilian JTF who cordoned the city to search for escaping terrorists they told our correspondent that, Boko Haram members gained entrance into the city in the guise of victims of insurgency.

Lawal Audu, a civilian JTF member told this reporter that, many Boko Haram fighters are now in Maiduguri, the Borno state capital. "They followed the IDPs to come to town. They even slaughtered two people in one of the camps and have been going about causing havoc in some parts of the state."

According to Lawal, the soldiers who were working with them went to the scene of the blast and told them that, security have cordoned the area, but did not say anything about the casualty figure.

At the state specialists hospital in Maiduguri, our correspondent gathered that, 64 corpses were brought to the hospital from the scene of the explosion.

A staff of the hospital who did not want his name mentioned said, dead bodies were still being evacuated from the scene of the bomb blasts with many injured.

The Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Gideon Jibril said "whatever figure you heard from the hospital sources are their own figure, but we are still evacuating corpses. We have not yet counted the corpses. This is a sad situation, I will update you whenever we are able to clear the scene and know the exact casualty figure." He said.