Nigerian Army have confirmed that 50 people lost their lives in two bomb explosions that rocked Damaturu, the Yobe State capital, on Friday.
Hours earlier two bombs killed 50 people buying goods for the holiday at the market in Gombe, according to National Emergency Management Agency spokesman Sani Datti. Another 75 wounded are being treated in two hospitals there, he said.
The Acting Director, Army Public Relations, Col. Sani Usman, said in a statement on Friday that 43 persons died in the first explosion which occurred at 7.40am and seven others in the second explosion. Several other people were also said to have sustained varying degrees of injuries from the two explosions.
It was learnt a teenage girl and an elderly woman carried out the two attacks at the screening area for the Eid prayers in Damaturu.
The explosions occurred while the screening of intending worshippers for the early morning prayers was taking place at Layin Geange and ‘Phase 1 ‘ in front of the former Yobe State Secretariat, in Damaturu.
Hours earlier two bombs killed 50 people buying goods for the holiday at the market in Gombe, according to National Emergency Management Agency spokesman Sani Datti. Another 75 wounded are being treated in two hospitals there, he said.
The Acting Director, Army Public Relations, Col. Sani Usman, said in a statement on Friday that 43 persons died in the first explosion which occurred at 7.40am and seven others in the second explosion. Several other people were also said to have sustained varying degrees of injuries from the two explosions.
It was learnt a teenage girl and an elderly woman carried out the two attacks at the screening area for the Eid prayers in Damaturu.
The explosions occurred while the screening of intending worshippers for the early morning prayers was taking place at Layin Geange and ‘Phase 1 ‘ in front of the former Yobe State Secretariat, in Damaturu.
The blasts are blamed on Nigeria’s homegrown Boko Haram, an Islamist militant group which has launched a string of attacks that have killed hundreds of people during Ramadan that ends Friday.
The upsurge in attacks followed a directive to create more mayhem during Ramadan from Islamic State, to which Boko Haram has sworn allegiance. It also followed the May 29 inauguration of President Muhammadu Buhari, who has sworn to defeat the insurgents.
Nigeria’s new army chief, Maj. Gen. Tukur Buratai, was in Damaturu on a visit to boost troops’ morale Friday and prayed at the town’s Central Mosque.
He was appointed last week when Mr. Buhari fired the entire top echelon of the military that he has accused of corruption that prevents what was once Africa’s strongest armed force from curbing the insurgency centered in Nigeria’s northeast.
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