Multiple blasts hit Maiduguri again

Scores of people were killed while many others were injured in multiple bomb blasts which ripped through a residential area of Maiduguri, Borno State yesterday.

Four bombs went off in a suicide mission within six minutes at Sajeri area of Gomari close to Ajilari Cross where there was a blast a few days to Sallah.

A witness told Daily Trust that the suicide bombers were girls who visited the area in a tricycle when people were preparing to pray.

“I was late for the prayer which started when I was doing abolution. The Keke NAPEP (tricycle) that brought them stopped near me and one of the girls walked straight towards the mosque. Before she entered, the bomb she was carrying exploded at 7.30pm. The second girl ran into a crowd near the mosque and blew herself up. I could not wait to see any more. I have not been able to count the corpses. But I know that most of the people in the mosque escaped because the bomb went off before she entered”, he said.

Another resident said one of the female suicide bombers was shot on the legs while still carrying a bomb, adding, “As I talk to you, she is lying down with her bomb. We are seeing her from afar. It is difficult to say how many people died. But there are corpses all over the place. Some houses have also been destroyed,” he added. As rescue operation was going on, another bomb went off at 9.19pm. In another development, residents of Malamuri and Usmandi around Alao Dam after the University of Maiduguri came under serious attack last night. Details were sketchy at press time but heavy gun shots were heard in the area.