45 Killed by Female Suicide Boko Haram Bombar This Afternon As Police confirm twin blast in Maiduguri

The Borno Police Command on Tuesday confirmed a twin-bomb blast at the Monday Market, Maiduguri.
The spokesman of the command, Mr Gideon Jubrin, gave the confirmation in an interview in Maiduguri.
Jubrin said, however, that the casualty figures were not available as at the time of the interview.
“We are just trying to get the details please,” he said.

But eye witnesses said that the blast occurred between 11a.m. and 11.15 a.m. after two suspected female suicide bombers detonated their Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) near the entrance to the market.
Mallam Modu Bukar, a bicycle repairer, said that the first blast occurred near the Bula Bulim Round About, while the second one occurred at the one-way road of the market.
“We were busy working at the bicycle market when we heard the first blast.
“People close to the area said that it was only the female suicide bomber that had been disfigured by the blast as we rushed to the scene,” Bukar said.
“But as we were trying to get to the scene, the second blast occurred on the one-way, killing many people.
“We all ran to safety leaving our shops open,” he said.
Malam Baba Ashama, a shop owner at the Bula-Bulim Round About, also said that the blast had affected many people.
“Nobody can tell you the exact number of casualty now because we all took to our heels on hearing the blasts,” Ashama said

’45 killed as she detonated the bomb on her back’

More than 45 people were killed when two female suicide bombers blew themselves up in a crowded market in northeast Nigeria on Tuesday, the latest in a wave of such attacks blamed on Boko Haram.
The explosions in the Borno state capital targeted the same Monday Market area where at least 15 people died on July 1 in a blast also thought to have been carried out by the Islamist militants.
Tuesday’s attacks came after the militants seized control of another town in Nigeria’s restive northeast, adding to their increasing haul of territory captured in recent months.
Health worker Dogara Shehu said he counted more than “45 people killed, some of them completely decapitated” in the Maiduguri blasts in an account supported by another witness.
An official with Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) confirmed that “many people have been killed” but did not have an official death toll.
“What we have is a case of suicide bombings involving two females,” said a senior security source in the city, who requested anonymity because he is not authorised to speak to the media.
The source told AFP that the first bomber stood by a motorised rickshaw packed with goods in the bustling market and took a call on her mobile phone.
“She then dropped it (the mobile phone) and at that moment she blew herself up, so people thought the bomb was concealed in the rickshaw,” he added.
“About 10 minutes later, another woman who looked about 19 and carrying what looked like a baby on her back under hijab arrived at the scene that was crowded by rescuers and locals.
“She then detonated the bomb on her back.”
– Wave of bombings –
Northern Nigeria has been hit by a wave of suicide bomb attacks by women in recent months, including earlier this month in the northeastern state of Bauchi and Niger state in the northwest.
In July, there were four such attacks within a week in Kano city.
The previous month, a woman was said to have blown herself up in a twin bombing in the southwestern city of Lagos, although her involvement was never confirmed.
Weeks earlier, Nigeria saw its first female suicide bombing, when a middle-aged woman detonated her explosives at a military barracks in the northern state of Gombe.
Analysts have said that Boko Haram is using either willing volunteers or coercing young women and girls into becoming human bombs as part of its strategy to create a hardline Islamic state.
Three women said to be “female recruiters” for Boko Haram were reportedly arrested in July while an alleged trainer of women bombers was detained in Kano in August with up to 16 “trainees”.
Boko Haram has attacked Maiduguri dozens of times during its five-year insurgency, using a range of tactics from suicide attacks and bombings to full-scale assaults on military barracks.
The Islamist group was founded in Maiduguri more than a decade ago and the city was once the epicentre of the conflict until its fighters were pushed out into more rural parts of the northeast.
– Another town seized –
Boko Haram had earlier taken over the town of Damasak, in the far north of Borno near the border with neighbouring Niger, starting their assault with an attack on the market there early Monday.
Maina Ma’aji Lawan, who represents northern Borno state in Nigeria’s Senate, said soldiers and hundreds of residents fled when the heavily armed militants opened fire on traders.
“There is not a single male in Damasak. Boko Haram is in control because all males and soldiers have fled. No one expects women to fight them,” Lawan told AFP by telephone from Abuja.
The security source in Maiduguri and a senior local government official both corroborated Lawan’s account, although it was unclear how many were killed in the attack.
Boko Haram’s territorial gains are a change in strategy from its previous trademark of deadly hit-and-run raids or high-profile strikes against government, police or military targets.
The group’s seizure of towns has raised fears about a potential loss of government control in the region.
Many in recent weeks have warned that violence would return to Maiduguri and some have voiced concern that the Islamists might try to capture the key city.
Losing Maiduguri would be a huge blow for Nigeria’s territorial integrity, but the military dismissed the warnings as alarmist.
Two blasts hit Maiduguri, more than 45 dead

A suicide bomber attacked a crowded market in northeast Nigeria’s city of Maiduguri on Tuesday, moments after a bombing rocked the same spot, witnesses said.
“People rushed to offer assistance to the victims (of the first blast) and moments later a second explosion went off,” said Laminu Habib, who was in the targeted Monday Market and whose account was supported by two other witnesses.
Second bomber was a woman, according to witness
More than 45 people died Tuesday in twin bombings in the northeast Nigerian city of Maiduguri, a local health worker and witnesses told AFP.
Health worker Dogara Shehu said he counted more than “45 people killed, some of them completely decapitated” in an account backed up by a witness, who declined to give his name.
A spokesman for Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) confirmed that “many people have been killed” but did not have an official death toll.