At least six persons were confirmed killed as four teenage girls detonated explosives worn around their bodies at the outskirts of Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, in the early hours of Wednesday, an official said.
Bomb Blast
Four deafening explosions echoed over Maiduguri in quick successions at about 1.15 a.m., causing sleeping residents to jump out of their beds in fear of yet another horrific attack by Boko Haram.
About 16 persons were also injured in the blasts.
The security agencies are yet to provide details of what actually happened.
But the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, said the explosions were caused by four teenage suicide bombers who attacked a location in Maiduguri, called Muna garage, which has been repeatedly attacked by suicide bomber in the past six months.
The spokesperson of NEMA, Sani Datti, said in a statement that “four female teenage suicide bombers killed two other men (6 people dead) when they detonated explosives at Usmanti along muna Garage road at about 1.15 a.m.”
He added that about “16 people who got injured were administered with first aid by rescue workers before being transported to the state specialist hospital and university teaching hospital in Maiduguri, Borno state”.
Suicide bombing by teenage girls primed by Boko Haram has been a major strategy of the insurgents for about two years now.
Over 200 such teenage girls have lost their lives helping Boko Haram convey their lethal weapons to attack both military and civil populations around north-east Nigeria. Sadly, less than ten of them survived the deadly mission.
It has also been observed that most the female suicide bombers were deployed in twos.
One of the girls that recently reneged on the mission by refusing to detonate her explosive told security operatives that they were made to believe that the explosives would not harm them. She said they were told that they would disappear to a safe haven where they would be married to handsome husbands of their choice and then live an eternal life of bliss and happiness.
