Borno Market Hit With Fresh Bomb Blast, Leaving Five Dead

By Chris Nomjov

There was another bomb attack on a market in Borno State on Sunday where five persons were killed, a member of the youth vigilante group Boko Haram, who does not want his name in print told one of our correspondents on the telephone.

He said, “The insurgents planted a bomb at the entrance to the Beneisheikh market around 10am on Sunday and this led to the death of five persons while 15 others were injured.

“Today, being the market day in Benisheikh, villagers do come to buy and sell grains and other farm produce but they had bad news to tell as a bomb suspected to be planted by a suspected Boko Haram insurgent exploded leading to the death of the five people.”

Ibrahim said the casualty figure could have been higher had the bomb been planted within the market.

A resident of Beneisheikh, Modu Gana, told one of our correspondents that, “We saw the dead bodies being conveyed to the Beneisheikh Hospital and those wounded were assisted by the members of the civilian JTF to the hospital. The market dispersed as people and traders took to their heels for safety after the explosion occurred.”

Meanwhile, the death toll from the multiple bomb attacks on Maiduguri, Borno State has risen from 58 to 62, a hospital source told one of our correspondents on Sunday.

The Borno State Commissioner of Police, Clement Adoda, had revealed few hours after the explosions at two markets and a motor park in Maiduguri on Saturday, that 58 persons died and 139 persons were injured and receiving treatment at hospitals in the troubled town.

But speaking with one of our correspondents on Sunday, a nurse in the hospital said four of those receiving treatment in the facility had died.

She said, “Due to the gravity of injuries of some victims brought to the hospital yesterday (Saturday), three of the injured died overnight, another one was lost this morning before the medical routine checks by the medical doctor on duty could get to him. They died because they lost a lot of blood.

“We are presently observing the case of one victim who is in a critical situation and he will need a miracle to survive because his condition is critical.

“Apart from these isolated cases, majority of the victims have been treated and discharged.”

Meanwhile, the Director of Defence Information, Maj. Gen. Chris Olukolade, has said that the campaign against terrorism only made provision for collaborative efforts among the countries involved in the operation.

Olukolade said that making incursions into the territories within the country was not part of the deal with the three collaborating nations involved in the ongoing campaign against the Boko Haram insurgency.

Olukolade made the comment while reacting to media reports that Chad and Niger had launched a joint operation against the Boko Haram in Nigeria.