5 killed as suicide bomber targets Borno police HQs

The police also confirmed that 12 people, including five policemen and were  civilians were injured by the shrapnel from the blast.   But witnesses and hospital sources gave a higher casualty.  Resident Musa Mohamed said he was not far from the scene when the bomb exploded. “It (Bomb) went off at about 11:26am when the […]

The police also confirmed that 12 people, including five policemen and were  civilians were injured by the shrapnel from the blast.

 

But witnesses and hospital sources gave a higher casualty.  Resident Musa Mohamed said he was not far from the scene when the bomb exploded.

“It (Bomb) went off at about 11:26am when the mastermind (suicide bomber) in his attempt to gain entry into the state command hit the main gate and the protection bar,” Musa said.

“We left our car and crossed over to the other side of the road. In fact, I jumped unto the gate of the Ramat Polytechnic and when I realized there was relative safety inside the campus, I peeped and saw the dead body of a police inspector and that of a traffic warden.

“There were about four or five other dead bodies while the body of the suicide bomber was mutilated completely. This was beside dozens of people who sustained injuries, many with grievous cuts in their bodies,” Musa said.

Police Commissioner Bala Hassan who confirmed the attack told Weekly Trust by phone that only one policeman was killed in the blast.

He said three civilians and the suicide bomber were also killed when the bomb-laden car exploded after the suicide bomber failed to gaini entry into the highly fortified police building.

“It was a suicide mission that failed,” CP Hassan said. “As you know, we have put in place, different measures to protect the place (headquarters) and when the lone suicide bomber failed to find his way into the compound, he exploded himself,” the commissioner said.

But a highly placed source at the State Specialists Hospital in Maiduguri said they received six dead bodies while 16 others who were seriously injured were being treated.

Though journalists were not allowed to snap pictures of the scene of the blast, it was discovered that the armoured tank parked by the entrance of the police command was partly damaged; the main gate and the protection bar completely removed; the roofs of the two rooms by the gate damaged and some glasses of the main building which houses the office of the Commissioner of Police also fell on the ground.

“The bomb has big capacity, because it shook the foundation of the headquarters even though the structure is intact,” a police source said.

On the highway, five cars and a bus as well as some tricycles badly damaged. Witnesses said many people sustained injuries as a result of the endless gunshots that trailed the blast.

“You know, the headquarters is on the busy Damaturu-Kano road and there was concentration of motorists when the bomb went off. Many people were hit by stray bullets while struggling to flee,” another witness, Babagana Daja, who left his car at the scene and fled, said.

Weekly Trust reports that earlier in the morning yesterday, an improvised explosive device (IED), which was concealed in a bag and kept under a public shed, exploded around 6:00 am at Gidan Dambe in Gwange area of Maiduguri and killed one person.

There are two versions of the morning explosion.

The Joint Task Force (JTF) Field Operations Commander, Colonel Victor Ebhaleme who confirmed the early morning incident said it went off with its mastermind before he reached his target.

“There was an explosion in an area of Maiduguri this morning and our men immediately deployed to the area and found out that it killed the owner,” Colonel Ebhaleme said.

On the other hand, residents of the area said the bomb killed a middle aged man who was mentally deranged. “The guy who died is not a new face here. He smokes a lot of Indian hemp and when he saw the wrap of the explosive, he went and touched it and it killed him,” a resident of the area said.

Our correspondent reports that this is the second major attack on the Borno State Police headquarters. The first was in August 2011 when a suicide bomber drove his bomb-laden car and penetrated the gate of the headquarters but was shot dead before he reached the main building.

The two explosions in Maiduguri haddisrupted all social and economic activities as residents closed their shops and business premises. Hundreds of people could not also observe yesterday’s juma’at prayers.

Security has been beefed up in all the areas in the city capital while residents of Tashar Kano Area, Bulunkutu, Gomari and Abujan Talakawa had to trek home because the route to their houses had been blocked.