ANOTHER BOMB AGAIN IN BORNU

Scene of a bomb explosion

•Suicide bombing foiled at Gaidam’s campaign office •FG: Sect is recruiting fighters in three Borno communities

Michael Olugbode and Adebiyi Adedapo in Abuja with agency report

A bomb attack on Biu’s main market in Borno State has claimed five lives and injured 10 others, eyewitnesses have said.

One of the eyewitnesses, Yusuf Gunda, a member of the youth vigilante group in the town, which is in the southern part of the troubled state, told THISDAY on the phone on Thursday that a woman was caught trying to set up the explosive device very close to the market about 3.30p.m.

According to him, youths and traders around the area “were not too sure what she was trying to drop off, as such incidents were uncommon.”

However, he said the action was enough to arouse suspicion, he adding: “and as they were asking her to carry what she had dropped off, the explosive device detonated and killed five persons including the woman.”

Gunda said ten other persons were injured in the explosion, adding that “the ten persons were taken to the Biu General Hospital to receive treatment.”

He revealed that though security agents swooped on the market immediately after the incident to ascertain the level of destruction, things soon went back to normal, as people who were initially apprehensive started going about their normal activities.

A source at the hospital, who spoke anonymously to THISDAY, confirmed that ten persons were brought in with various degrees of injury.

He said: “I cannot however confirm the number of those who died in the incident, as they were not brought here, but I learnt that they were five including the woman who was trying to plant the bomb.”

Several attempts to get the Public Relations Officer of the police in the state, Gideon Jibrin, were not successful as his mobile  phone was not reachable.

In other incidents in the North-east, Boko Haram insurgents bombed a police station in Yobe State, as the Islamists pressed on with attacks despite a multinational offensive targeting their strongholds, witnesses and security sources said.

Separately, an attempted suicide attack was foiled outside a political office elsewhere in Potiskum, raising fears of growing unrest in the run-up to Nigeria’s general elections, which have been postponed by six weeks.

Scores of militants armed with guns and explosives also stormed a police station in the town of Kanamma in Yobe State last Monday, multiple sources told AFP.
Details of the violence took days to emerge because of the poor phone network in the remote area.

“The terrorists overpowered our men and set the police station on fire before kidnapping the DPO (district police officer), whose body was later found in the bush,” said one senior officer, who requested anonymity.
Several other policemen were killed, he added.

That account was supported by Kanamma resident Maina Kachalla, who said the police station was bombed and burnt down.

Kanamma holds significance in the history of the Boko Haram conflict.
The group was formed in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, in 2002, but a hardline faction relocated to Kanamma in 2004 and attempted to form an extremist enclave in the town which they called ‘Afghanistan’, taking inspiration from the Taliban.

They clashed with the military in Kanamma in January 2004 in the first known case of unrest involving the group that later became known as Boko Haram.

The latest violence there was several hundred kilometres (miles) from the eastern edge of Borno State, the current epicentre of the multinational offensive, which indicated that regional armies have substantial ground to cover if they hope to crush the insurgency.

In Yobe State economic capital, Potiskum, many witnesses said an attempted suicide bombing was thwarted outside the campaign office of Governor Ibrahim Geidam.

The suspect reportedly raised suspicion by loitering outside the office and was confronted by a crowd, causing him to run into an abandoned building where he blew himself up, according to witness Abubakar Ubale and two others.

Meanwhile, the federal government yesterday confirmed that Boko Haram had commenced massive recruitment of fighters in three Borno communities of Geidam, Mairi and Dupcha with the plan to disrupt the elections in the state.

This is just as the government appealed to Nigerians to support the military operations against insurgency in the North-east.

The Coordinator of the National Information Centre ( NIC) and Director General of National Orientation Agency ( NOA), Mr. Mike Omeri, while briefing journalists yesterday in Abuja, explained that there was need for constant vigilance by the security authorities and the public to effectively tackle the menace of terrorism.

“In the general effort to contain acts of insurgency in the North East and secure the entire area for the forthcoming general elections, the centre wishes to alert the public on very recent intelligence reports which indicated a considerable movement of Boko Haram recruits from such locations as Geidam, Mairi and Dupcha (all in Borno State) to training camps within the general area.
According to Omeri, previous major attacks by insurgents, including the siege on Bama and Monguno military bases, were preceded by such massing up of fighters in training camps within the proposed targets.

“This recent development, which points in the same direction, has also been alluded to by the Boko Haram group in its recent boast about having a 30,000-50,000 strong force to disrupt elections in Maiduguri,” he said.

The government also released emergency telephone numbers with which the public could lay complaints and report incidents of security breaches and related issues for prompt intervention.
These numbers include 07057274630, 07057276432.

Omeri said military had been fully mobilised and deployed against the insurgents who are being chased and roundly subdued.
“We urge the public to exercise a high level of vigilance and also support the effort of the military to ensure hitch-free elections and a return to normalcy in the general area, soonest.”

“We also seize this opportunity to restate government’s commitment to keeping the country and her citizens safe from those who seek to destroy the nation”
“In addition, we urge the civil society, politicians and everybody to avoid disruptive and inciting statements, while assuring the citizens of regular update on the successes scored by our military and security forces in the fight against terror in the North-east,” he stated.