Thursday, November 26, 2015

Female suicide bomber kills 3 people in Nigeria’s Maiduguri

A female suicide bomber blew herself up in the northeastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri on Saturday, killing three people and injuring several others, residents said.

The bombing in the city’s Dala Yazaram neighborhood happened a day after at least 55 people were killed in attacks in northeast Nigeria, where jihadist group Boko Haram is seeking to create a hardline Islamic state.

Although no group has claimed responsibility for Saturday’s blast, immediate suspicion fell on Boko Haram.

A local resident said he saw two female suicide bombers arrive in the area, but one was stopped by people nearby while the other blew herself up.

“Three people have been killed and many injured. One of the terrorists was arrested before she could detonate,” Shuaibu Umara, a security guard at a nearby petrol station, told AFP.

In a conflicting account, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said one person, a member of a civilian vigilante group assisting the military in the fight against Boko Haram, was killed and 10 injured in the blast.

NEMA spokesman Sani Datti said there had been four female suicide bombers who targeted Dala Ajeri but were intercepted by vigilantes.

“Three of the female suicide bombers detonated the explosions in their bodies immediately and the fourth one was intercepted but later died,” Datti said in a statement.