Twenty four people have been confirmed dead
and at least 54 injured in a twin bomb attack
that occurred in Maiduguri, the Borno State
capital early Tuesday, health officials said.
The Executive Secretary of the Borno State
Hospital Management Board, Dr. Salisu
Kwayabura, told the state governor, Kashim
Shettima, that the 54 injured people were
admitted at the University of Maiduguri
Teaching Hospital and the Umaru Shehu
Ultra-Modern Hospital, Maiduguri.
“Out of this number, 14 of them who were
critically injured have been referred to the
University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital
(UMTH) for proper treatment while 20 have
been discharged,” Dr. Kwayabura said.
Also briefing the governor, the state’s
permanent secretary in the ministry of health,
Alhaji Sanda, said 24 bodies were taken to the
teaching hospital morgue.
Witnesses and security sources who were at
the scene of the minutes after the bombing
incident said more people had died and some
of the identified corpses were taken away for
burial by the relatives even before the rescue
workers arrived.
Mr. Shettima described the bombers as
“wicked, barbaric and heartless”
“We are all shocked by this heartless and
barbaric act of wickedness; what on earth
could justify that act of choosing poor traders
and children as targets of this heinous
attack,” he questioned.
Two suspected female suicide bombers
dressed in full hijab detonated bombs hidden
under their garments near Maiduguri main
market. Many of the dead were traders.
The explosions occurred at about 11:20 a.m. at
a crowded Maiduguri commercial area called
One-Way.
The bomb attack was the first in the city
since July 2.
According to witnesses’ accounts, there was a
first explosion that killed three women before
the second one exploded and killed many
persons who gathered at the scene of the first
blast.
Abba Aji an official of the Civilian-JTF, told
reporters that at the time he arrived the
scene, 11 bodies were still yet to be
evacuated, while many other corpses and
several injured victims had been conveyed to
hospital.
According to the Civilian-JTF official, the
bombers were two girls dressed in full hijab.
“One of them detonated herself and about
three persons – all women – were killed, and
minutes after that when people came round to
see what happened, another bomb went off
after a girl screamed and many people, over
30 of them got killed.
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