Eleven people have been confirmed dead while 43 others sustained varying degree of injuries in a twin bomb blast on the outskirts of Maiduguri in Borno state.
At the blast scene, Daily Trust gathered from witnesses that some two teenage girls suspected to be Boko Haram suicide bombers, had appeared walking through a street of Muna general area which is situated just five kilometres away from the metropolis.
One of the witnesses said he earlier saw them on Saturday evening quietly walking towards a tarred road and they suddenly turned back talking softly between themselves. The witness said he thought they were looking for a wedding ceremony event.
“Not knowing that they would later turn out to be Boko Haram girls, I really saw them walking along a street nearby. I even wanted to help them out, thinking, both girls who looked like strangers, are looking for a house where a wedding ceremony is taking place.
“But shortly after, I just heard an explosion which turned out to be from those two girls I have just passed-by, just 20 to 30 minutes ago, they are suicide bombers – I could have been their first victim,” the witness said in his Shuwa-Arab language, expressing gratitude to God for saving his live.
The national and state emergency agencies, after the evacuation of the victims, placed the death toll at five while a Civilian JTF personnel, who participated in the exercise, said they had evacuated eight corpses while three out of the injured ones died at the hospital.
The NEMA spokesman in Maiduguri, Abdulkadir Ibrahim, in a statement on Sunday, said: “Emergency response teams have confirmed that two female PBIED carriers detonated their explosives within five minutes interval at Muna-Dalti settlement yesterday evening (6/4/2019).
“As a result, three persons died and the two bombers while close to 41 others sustained various degrees of injuries. The injured are currently receiving medical treatment at General Hospital, Maiduguri,” Ibrahim said.
His counterpart at the SEMA, Usman Kachalla, also corroborated him.
“We have evacuated the wounded to the Specialist Hospital but unfortunately three persons dead at the spot (excluding the bombers) and 46 other are receiving medical attention at State Specialist Hospital,” he said.
A source from the SEMA confirmed that three out of the wounded had died while receiving treatment at the hospital.
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