Scores of worshippers were killed Thursday when suicide bombers detonated their bombs in a mosque in Maiduguri, Borno State capital , eye-witnesses said.
“All the people in the mosque died. Not a single one escaped,” said Muhtari Ahmadu, a trader near the scene, while another witness said he had counted at least 42 bodies after the blasts.
The explosions were suspected to have been masterminded by Boko Haram suicide bombers who attacked various mosques and public gathering in Mai Borti and Kangaleri villages of Molai in Maiduguri leaving scores of worshippers and innocent people dead.
Molai is 10 kilometres South of Maiduguri which has witnessed several suicide attacks near its military formation this year. The road linking the village from Maiduguri-Damboa–Biu has been closed to motorists during the past one year despite a directive by the Chief of Army Staff, Luitenant General Tukur Buratai to reopen the road.
The blasts also left several others seriously injured as people scampered for safety on the eve of the swearing-in of the newly appointed Deputy Governor, Alhaji Usman Mamman Durkwa who replaces the late Umar Zannah, who died in his hotel room in Adamawa State while on an official assignment a couple of months ago.
Surrounding villages of Maiduguri have been witnessing series of suicide attacks in the last one month leaving hundreds of people dead and injured, even as the December deadline given to security operatives to end the six-year insurgency by President Muhammad Buhari still remains.
Some residents who escaped from the scene siad, “Male suicide bombers detonated multiple improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in different locations while over 30 Muslims were in one of the mosques at Molai on the outskirts of Maiduguri metropolis observing their Magrib prayer around 6.10 pm Thursday evening.”
Another source who spoke to our correspondent in anonymity said, “Muslims were observing their magrib prayers in a mosque at Molai, then a heavy loud sound echoed through the air and next we heard lucky survivors shouting it is a bomb blast.
“We started running up and down, motorists drove and rushed out of the area including keke NAPEP riders with their families, everywhere was confused and panic took over the entire place.
“You need to see how residents were running, some even had to park their belongings to leave the area tensed and confused as nobody knows what will happen next. But we are yet to get the details of what happened and how many people were killed and how many were wounded.
“Although security operatives have reached the scene with other humanitarian services as well as men of the police anti- bomb squad, I am not in a position to give you the detail of casualties yet.”
A phone call put through to the Director of Army Public Relations, Colonel Sani Kukasheka Usman to confirm the incident, directed our correspondent to contact his Deputy at the 7 Division, Nigerian Army, Colonel Tukur Gusau whose phone lines were busy as at press time.
AFP