TheCable

A suicide bomber struck at a popular market in Maiduguri, capital of Borno state, on Saturday, killing an unspecified number of people.

A security source told TheCable that the incident occurred around 4:10pm.

“The attack happened at a place called cow market and many people are expected to be involved because the market is usually busy,” he said.

The source added that the incident happened when it was raining.

Lawal Kawu, a paramedic at the teaching hospital in Maiduguri, told Reuters that about 16 people died in the attack.

“At about 4:30 p.m. on Saturday they brought casualties from the blast scene …16 bodies were deposited with 24 injured,” he said.

He added that some of the injured were also in critical condition.

Efforts to confirm the development from Gideon Jibrin, the police public relations officer in the state, did not yield any result as he neither answered calls nor responded to the text message sent to his phone.

Meanwhile, Aderemi Opadokun, commissioner of police in the state, said a suspected female suicide bomber detonated an explosive along Baga/Monguno road, still in Maiduguri, on Saturday, adding that two persons died while four were injured in that attack.

He also said there was an explosion near a military check point in Konduga local government area, which led to injury of two persons.

“It is true that we had a suspected IED explosion at Tungushe village in Konduga on Saturday near a military check point,” he told NAN.

“Two persons were injured and they are now being treated at the hospital.”