Two Female suicide bombers in hijab hit Maiduguri market, kill 67

At least 67 people were feared dead and about 98 others seriously injured yesterday when two female suicide bombers hit a popular Monday market along One-Way Road, Chalarams, Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.

Over 30 shops and 25 vehicles were also destroyed.

The explosion, whose sound was heard across the metropolis, occurred at about 11:11am.

It went off at a place that has huge concentration of people buying and selling.

NigerianEye gathered that the bomb was concealed in a pickup tricycle, popularly known as Jega.

"The blast happened at One-Way road that leads to Bulabulin, adjacent the Monday Market," trader Sabiu Aliyu said.

Unconfirmed report said one of the female suicide bombers was a mad woman suspected to have been used by terrorists, leaving over 16 people including the mad woman dead on the spot, while those who sustained injuries were rushed to University of Maiduguri and the State Specialists Hospital for treatment.

The incident which occurred at about 11am forced many traders, students and residents to close. The explosion occurred at a time Governor Kashim Shettima was having security meetings with security chiefs in the state.

This is the second most deadly attacks along Chalarams Road at Monday market. In 2011, some terrorists invaded the market road and killed over 10 traders.

Health worker, Dogara Shehu, said he counted more than “45 people killed, some of them completely decapitated” in the Maiduguri blasts in an account supported by another witness.

An official with National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) confirmed that “many people have been killed” but did not have an official death toll.

“What we have is a case of suicide bombings involving two females,” said a senior security source in the city, who requested anonymity because he is not authorised to speak to the media.

The source told AFP that the “first bomber stood by a motorised rickshaw packed with goods in the bustling market and took a call on her mobile phone. She then dropped it (the mobile phone) and at that moment she blew herself up, so people thought the bomb was concealed in the rickshaw.

“About 10 minutes later, another woman who looked about 19 and carrying what looked like a baby on her back under hijab arrived at the scene that was crowded by rescuers and residents. She then detonated the bomb on her back.”

Witnesses’ accounts

An eye witness, who was among the lucky survivors, Mallam Ali Mohammed told Vanguard that “two female suicide bombers hit the vicinity of the busy Maiduguri market killing over 60 people.”
Another eye witness, who is a petty trader, Mallam Abba Usman said: “As I am talking to you now, we are still trying to rescue the injured and evacuate the corpses. I cannot give you a number yet but a lot of people died.”

He said it was also difficult to rescue people as the entire place has been cordoned off by the military, even as residents were asking the soldiers to leave the place as they had failed to protect lives and property in the state.

A member of the civilian JTF vigilante who does not want his name in print said that “one of the female attackers kept a parcel in one of the shops on One-way, a commercial area beside the popular Monday Market, telling the traders that she had something to pick from the market, while the package detonated few minutes later.

“And as people were still wondering what was happening and were trying to rescue the injured, another woman in the same area detonated a bomb planted on her, which claimed so many lives.
A trader, Amadi Nuhu, who spoke to our correspondent said: “They were two suicide bombers. The first detonated herself, killing many people and as people were running for their lives, the other bomber detonated her own, killing many more. I don’t know how many people were killed but about 14 Keke Napep (Jega) 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 more who came to the market for business.