A fresh explosion, which killed 20 persons, is reported to have rocked Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, on Monday morning, as residents gathered around a mosque.
The victims were said to have gathered to investigate if a bomb was truly abandoned in the mosque, following the rumor that a fleeing Boko Haram bomber abandoned an improvised explosive device, IED, in the area during Sunday night’s attack on the city.
Speaking with Premium Times, a police officer said: “I have never seen such foolishness when people would go peeping into a mosque to find out if truly there was an explosive deposited in a place. But sadly, the bomb went off and over 20 persons were killed and many injured.”
But this account slightly differed from that of a primary school teacher in the area, Malam Suleiman, who told the medium that “The people normally sit down around the mosque in the morning,” stressing that “The place is like a meeting point where neighbours converge to relax.
“After the morning prayers, they just sat down outside the mosque as usual and then the bomb went off. It was not suicide bombing like that of last night. It may have been planted,” he added.
