Boko Haram suicide bombers kill at least 50 in Nigerian attacks

By The Guardian

Female suicide bombers believed to be acting for Boko Haram are reported to have been part of attacks that killed at least 50 people, including children, in a city in the north-east of Nigeria.

Two explosions happened at market places in Maiduguri, where women were seen with bombs strapped to their bodies or in bags, according to reports. A third explosion took place in one of the city’s busy bus stations. The cause for that explosion has yet to be confirmed.

Clement Adoda, police commissioner of Borno state, of which Maiduguri is the capital, said 58 were dead, while 139 people had been injured. Both tolls are expected to rise, and there have been unconfirmed reports of further explosions elsewhere in the city.

Maiduguri was once the base of the Islamist group, which has been conducting a campaign of violence pushing for Islamic rule in Nigeria. It has already claimed more than 13,000 lives. After being pushed out of the city last year, its fighters retreated to the nearby Sambisa forest, from which they launched attacks on villages and towns in the north-east, taking over wide stretches of territory. Last month experts warned that Boko Haram was likely to increase its attacks on civilian targets in response to the successful reclaiming by government forces of several of the group’s strongholds.

The first attack on Saturday occurred at the city’s Baga fish market at around 11.20am, according to Abubakar Gamandi, head of the fishermen’s union in Borno state. “A female suicide bomber exploded as soon as she stepped out of a motorised rickshaw,” said Gamandi, who was at the scene, according to a report from Agence France-Presse. “Eighteen people were killed.”

A market trader, Idi Idrisa, said: “I saw many dead bodies lying on the ground, many dead and several others badly injured.” His account was supported by a nurse at the Maiduguri general hospital, where many of the victims were taken.

About an hour later a second explosion rocked what is known locally as the Monday Market, killing another 15 people, according to Gamandi. A trader there told the BBC that two female bombers seemed to have targeted the market. One had a bomb strapped to her body that detonated as she was being scanned at the entrance gate, he said. Another woman was said to have exploded the bomb she was carrying in a bag a few feet away.

A third explosion came shortly after 1pm at the nearby busy Borno Express bus terminal, where witnesses said around 12 people could be seen lying on the ground afterwards. It was not clear whether they were dead or injured or whether the blast had been caused by a suicide bomber or car bomb.

A vigilante leader in Borno, Danlami Ajaokuta, whose civilian fighters have been working with the military across the north-east in fighting Boko Haram, said security forces had ordered the closure of all businesses across the city given the apparently coordinated nature of the bombings and the fear that more could follow. Borno state’s justice commissioner, Kaka Shehu, confirmed all three attacks but declined to discuss casualty figures.

Last week Nigeria’s president, Goodluck Jonathan, said the tide had “definitely turned” against militant Islamists as Nigerian troops and their regional allies recapture territory.

Boko Haram has also attacked villages in Cameroon and Niger as Nigeria’s neighbours form a multinational force to confront the spreading Islamist uprising. Chad’s president, Idriss Deby, last week said his forces know the whereabouts of the Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, and warned him to surrender or face certain death.

Boko Haram fighters are massing at their headquarters in the north-eastern Nigerian town of Gwoza, in apparent preparation for a showdown with multinational forces, according to witnesses who escaped from the town. An intelligence officer told Associated Press that they were aware of the movement but that the military was acting with care as many civilians are still trapped in the town with Boko Haram laying landmines around it.

Nigeria’s presidential and parliamentary elections have been postponed by six weeks to 28 March to give troops more time to beat back Boko Haram. Abubakar Shekau has vowed to disrupt the vote, and widespread unrest, especially near polling stations, could prove disastrous.

Hundreds of thousands of people displaced by the conflict are living in Maiduguri, swelling the city’s population to well over two million.