adminKano – At least 10 people were killed when three suicide bombers blew themselves up in the northeast Nigerian town of Chibok, where Boko Haram kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls, a town elder said yesterday.
Ayuba Chibok said the blasts happened at about midday as the remote town in Borno state was packed with traders from surrounding villages for the weekly market. “They were suicide attacks. The first bomber set off his explosives at the checkpoint where people coming into the town were being searched,” he added.
“A second bomber managed to get into the market and blew himself up. A third bomber was identified and residents pursued him.
“When he realised he was about to be apprehended he detonated his explosives in an area not far from the market.”
“Ten died on the spot and another one died on the way to hospital,” said health worker Dazzban Buba, who volunteered to treat the injured at hospital. A woman and a child died as they were being admitted (to hospital), so now the death toll stands at 13. Thirty others were injured, 21 critically.”
The blasts bore the hallmarks of Boko Haram, which has repeatedly hit “soft” civilian targets such as markets, mosques and bus stations as well as military and civilian vigilante checkpoints.
Chibok came to prominence in April 2014 when Islamist fighters stormed a boarding school and kidnapped 276 girls, causing global outrage. Fifty-seven girls managed to escape in the immediate aftermath but 219 are still being held and have not been seen since they appeared in a Boko Haram video in May that year.
Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari on December 24 declared the rebels were “technically” defeated but at least 66 people were then killed in raids and suicide bombings in the days following. – AFP
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