Suicide bomber targets Fika monarch – Boko Haram claims responsibility

Six people including three civilians, the emir’s police orderly and two other policemen sustained various degrees of injuries while the suicide bomber died in the incident, Yobe State police commissioner Mr. Patrick Egbuniwe said.   “The suicide bomber laced his body with explosives but some did not explode. It was after the attack that our […]

Six people including three civilians, the emir’s police orderly and two other policemen sustained various degrees of injuries while the suicide bomber died in the incident, Yobe State police commissioner Mr. Patrick Egbuniwe said.

 

“The suicide bomber laced his body with explosives but some did not explode. It was after the attack that our men from the bomb disposal unit went and de-mobilized the remaining explosives,” the commissioner said.

The attack on the Yobe Monarch, who is Chairman of Yobe State Council of Chiefs, came three weeks after a similar one on the Shehu of Borno Alhaji Abubakar Umar Garbai Al-Amin El-Kanemi.

The Jama’atuAhlis Sunnah Lidda’awati Wal Jihad, also known as Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for the suicide mission on the emir.

Spokesman of the group, Abul Qaqa, who stated this on phone equally claimed responsibility for the attack launched in Rigasa, Kaduna State. “Our attacks will continue unabated. We would continue killing politicians, security personnel, Christians and anybody who assists security men to arrest us,” he said.

Witnesses said if not for the “share bravado of the police orderly,” the emir would have been killed.

“The effect of the blast severed one of the hands of the orderly while trying to shield the emir. Most of the people around the scene thought the orderly had died because blood was gushing out from the severed hand,” Salis Idi, a worshipper at the central mosque, who saw what happened, said.

“The emir was not injured but at least 20 people have sustained injuries, some grievous. The scene was filled to capacity because many were trooping out of the mosque, some trying to have a glimpse of the emir.

“Soon after the dust that enveloped the sky faded, I saw people crawling in pains, trying to move away from where they were hit by the shrapnel of the blast. I thank God I left the mosque soon after the prayers because one of my customers was waiting at my shop which is not far from the emir’s palace,” Idi said.

Weekly Trust gathered that the incident happened at the mosque vicinity immediately after Juma’at prayers around 2:03pm when the Emir was heading to his palace after attending the congressional Friday prayer.

Another witness who does not want his name mentioned said the suicide bomber had strapped his body with many explosives and hid an AK47 riffle beneath his cloth.

“He (suicide bomber) tried to force his way and attack the monarch but was pushed back by the emir’s orderly. He then brought out his gun when he saw he was going to be prevented from reaching his target.  That was when the bomb exploded before he could make further progress.

“The strength of the explosive hurled the mutilated upper parts of the body of the attacker all over the place, including the roof of the mosque,” he said.

A palace source said that an unknown person was earlier sighted in the emir’s entourage inside the mosque but was asked to leave the place.

“Immediately after the prayer, the same person was sighted rushing towards the royal father,” he said.

Shortly after the incident, sympathizers and worshippers at the scene were asked to leave the place to allow security operatives made up of police and army do their work after cordoning all routes leading the area but the move was resisted.

Mob refused to leave which led to a peaceful protest against a soldier who shot in the air to disperse the crowd. It took the intervention of some elders of the emirate council to calm frayed nerves.

A source at the Potiskum General Hospital, where the injured were taken to for treatment, said “The emir’s orderly is in the intensive care unit because of the gravity of the injuries he sustained.”

Meanwhile, there was tension in Potiskum as security intensified checks at military road blocks. The major road from Kano which passes by the Divisional Police Headquarters in Potiskum was blocked. “The measure was taken to avoid further attack on the police,” a Police source revealed.

In the last three years, over 1000 people, including soldiers, police, SSS, immigrations, customs, clerics and civilians have been killed, with most of the attacks being claimed by the Boko Haram.

Potiskum is the commercial nerve centre of Yobe State but wave of violence in the city has crippled socioeconomic life of the once famous city.

In May this year, over 150 people were killed at the Potiskum Cattle market, the largest in the northeast region.