Blast kills 32 in north-east Nigeria

BY LATE yesterday there was no claim of responsibility for a blast at a market in the north-eastern Nigerian city of Yola, which killed 32 people and injured 80.

The Red Cross and National Emergency Management Agency said the explosion occurred at a fruit and vegetable market beside a main road about 8pm on Tuesday.

The blast bore the hallmarks of the militant Islamist group, Boko Haram, which has killed thousands during six years in its attempt to create in the north-east a state adhering to strict sharia.

Suspected Boko Haram militants have carried out attacks in neighbouring Chad, Niger and Cameroon in recent weeks but have not struck north-eastern Nigeria since late last month when bombings in Yola and Maiduguri left at least 37 people dead.

“The ground near my shop was covered with dead bodies. I helped to load 32 into vehicles,” said shop owner Alhaji Ahmed.

Another witness said he saw eight ambulances take the injured to be treated.

Suspected Boko Haram members have killed about 1 000 people since President Muhammadu Buhari took office in May, and vowed to crush the militant group.

Since losing to the Nigerian army most of the territory they had captured earlier this year, the militants have focused attacks on markets, bus stations and places of worship, as well as hit-and-run attacks on villages.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian army said yesterday that troops on a special operation in the north-eastern state of Borno had discovered and destroyed a rocket factory belonging to the Boko Haram insurgents.

The operation was carried out in an area called the Delwa general district of Borno, on Tuesday, according to army spokesman Colonel Sani Kukasheka Usman.

Rockets

Usman said this had put paid to the ability of the terrorist group to fabricate rockets and their launchers, using rudimentary materials.

“This has further crippled the terrorists and greatly emboldened the troops in carrying out more offensive actions against them until they are defeated,” he said.

Nigeria’s army chief, Tukur Yusuf Buratai, described the development as one that had put the terrorists on the verge of defeat. He also encouraged the troops to do still more to rout the terrorist group.

On Monday, the Nigerian army avoided falling into a potentially deadly trap when improvised explosive devices were discovered and destroyed in Borno, along with the rocket-making activities

Borno state army spokesman Colonel Tukur Ismail Gusau said the items were discovered on the outskirts of the town of Bama, at one time a location of Boko Haram.

The operation succeeded with the support of the Nigerian air force which assisted with aerial surveillance of the whole area.

Most of the items recovered – including a large quantity of assorted chemicals and various items of technical equipment – were suspected to have been stolen from the laboratories of schools around Bama before Boko Haram was dislodged from the area.

The terrorist group has waged a campaign of violence in Nigeria since 2009, in an effort to establish an Islamic state. It has killed about 13 000 people and kidnapped hundreds, with surrounding countries such as Niger, Chad and Cameroon also affected.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has given a December deadline for the army to end the Boko Haram insurgency. – Reuters, Xinhua