Bomb Kills 50, As B’Haram Attack Market In Borno

About 50 persons were on Tuesday killed when a bomb allegedly planted by members of the Boko Haram sect exploded at a village market in Borno State.

Though some members of the youth vigilance group said they counted 20 burnt corpses and 25 others injured victims of the blast, another military source told Reuters that the blast killed at least 47 people and injured another 52.

A member of the local youth vigilance group, Abubakar Ibrahim, told our correspondent on the telephone that “many people were killed in Sabon Gari market, along Maiduguri-Damboa-Biu highway, this (Tuesday) afternoon when a bomb explosion rocked the market.”

He added, “Our men heard a loud explosion at about 1.35pm. When they got there, they saw mangled bodies, burnt beyond recognition.”

Ibrahim added that the incident was not caused by a suicide bombing, but rather from a planted bomb at the centre of the market.

Another member of the youth vigilance group in Sabon Gari, Ishaq Abdullahi, told our correspondent on the telephone that they picked 20 mangled corpses from the market.

Abdullahi said 25 other persons were injured in the attack.

He said, “We were called to evacuate the corpses and assist the injured to the hospital. I counted 20 dead bodies and our men took 25 injured persons to the hospital.”

Sabon Gari is a village on Maiduguri-Damboa-Biu highway, a distance of about 140 kilometres from Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State.

Meanwhile, the police in Plateau State on Tuesday confirmed the killing of four persons following a cow rustling incident that occurred in Kadunung village in Mangu Local Government Area of the state.

The Mangu Divisional Police Officer, Mr. Williams Nkarang, confirmed the attack to the News Agency of Nigeria in Kadunung.

Nkarang said that he was waiting for the details from his men who went on a rescue mission to the village.

He also confirmed that his men had retrieved the corpses of the “four persons killed in the two different crises.’’

Also confirming the report, the Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Emmanuel Abu, said the command had commenced investigation into the two attacks with a view to bringing the culprits to book.

Abu said no arrest had been made so far but that the police was on top of the situation.

A reliable source had told NAN that two of the herdsmen were killed on Monday when unknown rustlers invaded a cattle range in the village.

The rustlers, according the source, were reported to have carted away unspecified number of cows to unknown destination.

“Again, just this afternoon, two brothers were killed by some unknown persons following a disagreement on the removal of a grinding machine by one Mr. Dutse Yusuf.

“In fact, as we speak, the whole village is in confusion as to what exactly is happening, ’’ lamented the source who spoke to NAN in anonymity.

The source alleged that trouble started “this afternoon when Yusuf came along with his children and attempted to remove and transfer their grinding machine to Dorong village in Barkin Ladi Local Government Area, where they reside’’.

According to him, the idea and action were said to have angered some Kadunung people, who engaged Yusuf and his children in an argument which degenerated into a fight that led to the killing of his two sons.

The source said the father of the deceased (Yusuf) was lucky to have escaped from the hands of their attackers.