Suspected suicide bombers killed seven people yesterday at the Malkohi camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) camp in Yola and three others in Madagali town. Initial reports by the Nigerian Red Cross and the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) indicated that three people died in the incident and nine others, including four officials, sustained injuries in the blast which occurred around 11 am.
A Red Cross representative, AliyuMaikano, who spoke to Daily Trust at the scene of the blast, said the initial figure was based on three severed human heads recovered from the scene. He said it appeared the bomb was planted in a tent near a stall but other officials believe it was a suicide bombing. But hospital sources and updates from the state commissioner of information, Ahmad Sajoh raised the figure to seven.
Sajoh added that government received sketchy reports of another blast in Madagali and was expecting details from security circles. He announced, meanwhile, that the state government would sponsor the treatment of the survivors.
A resident in Madagali told Daily Trust that a female suicide bomber detonated an improvised explosive device (IED) near a checkpoint on Friday morning, killing herself and two others.
When Daily Trust visited Malkohi at noon, aid workers were still picking up human body parts while security agents cordoned off the area. Military and police personnel had moved the IDPs in the camp to the field inside the camp for re-screening.
Some officials at the Malkohi camp said they suspected that the attacker had infiltrated the more than 300 IDPs from nearby Sambisa Forest.
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