violent Islamic sect, Boko Haram,
have again bombed a market in
Nguro-Soye, near Bama, Borno
State, killing no fewer than 29
persons.
Reuters reported on Sunday
that the attack on the market
was said to have been carried
out on Saturday night.
"I travelled to Bama to buy bags
of beans. Suddenly, there was a
deafening bang at the middle of
the market. It was in the late
afternoon and commercial
activities were at their peak,"
said Shuaibu Abdulahi, a trader
at the market.
He estimated the
death toll to be as high as 29.
Abba Tahir, a bus driver who
was said to be offloading
passengers at the market
during the incident, said he
counted 20 bodies.
"People were helping in
evacuating the corpses after the
confusion had died down. Some
people who were injured were
taken to the general hospital,"
Tahir added.
There was no claim of
responsibility for the attack yet
as of the time of this report.
Borno State Police
Commissioner,, Mr. Lawal Tanko,
who confirmed the incident,
was quoted as saying, "An
explosion in the market in
Nguro-Soye killed 17 people."
Bama is a border town and the
headquarter of the Bama Local
Government Area of Borno
State. It is about 135 kilometres
from Maiduguri, the state
capital.
The town is not new to attacks
by the Boko Haram insurgents.
The 202 Army Battalion
Barracks located in the town
was hit by Boko Haram in
December 2013.
Several women and children,
mostly wives and wards of
soldiers, who battled the
insurgents for over seven
hours, were killed in the attack
launched at about 3 am.
On February 19 this year, the
insurgents also attacked
Bama.Confirming the February
attack, Governor Kashim
Shettima had said the attackers
"inflicted a lot of damage on the
town." A Borno State senator,
Ahmed Zanna, had then told the
BBC that the attack on Bama
lasted for five hours.
Boko Haram has killed well over
1,500 people in the North-East
zone since the sect launched its
war against the Federal
Government.
In the course of their bombing
campaign, the insurgents have
attacked military and police
facilities, worship houses,
markets and drinking joints.
At the height of the Boko Haram
notoriety in May last year, the
Federal Government slammed a
six-month state of emergency
on three north-eastern states of
Yobe, Adamawa and Borno.
The emergency measure was
renewed for another six
months in November but while
the military claimed to be
having the upper hand in the
battle against the insurgents,
the sect members continued to
launch attacks with devastating
consequences on the civilian
population.
On February 24, the insurgents
attacked the Federal
Government College, Buni
Yadi,in the Gujba Local
Government Area of Yobe State.
Yobe State Police Commissioner,
Sanusi Rufai, had then said that
29 male students were killed
during the attack but at least 40
students were believed to have
been murdered.
The insurgents, who reportedly
severed the heads of many of
the victims, also burnt down
buildings in the school.
The development forced the
Federal Government to
announce early in March the
closure of its five unity schools
in the North-East.
Meanwhile, security agents in a
church in Jos, Plateau State, on
Sunday prevented an attack on
worshippers by gunmen
suspected to be Fulani
herdsmen.
The gunmen were said to have
targeted the church located at
the Rantya low cost area of
Nyago Gyel district in the Jos
South Local Government Area.
They had descended from the
hills and were about to launch
the attack when a member of
the church's security team
spotted them.
Though the gunmen, in their
hundreds, immediately started
shooting sporadically in the
direction of the church, they
were repelled by men of the
Special Task Force.
An eyewitness, Mr. Godwin
Okoko, told one of our
correspondents that but for the
vigilance of the police and
soldiers attached to the STF,
who responded to distress calls
by the worshippers, the
gunmen would have succeeded.
Okoko said about 1,000 people
were in the church at about
10am preparing to commence
Sunday worship "when the
gunmen started descending
from the hills and started
shooting but were swiftly
repelled by men of the STF."
Okoko is the country
coordinator of a non-
governmental organisation,
Apurimac Onlus.
Plateau State Police
Commissioner, Mr. Chris Olakpe,
confirmed the incident to our
correspondent on Sunday.
He said that no life was lost and
nobody was arrested.
"My men got a distress call that
some gunmen were planning to
attack a church as the
worshippers were about to
commence service.
We stormed
the area and there was a heavy
exchange of gunfire between
the gunmen and a combined
force of policemen and STF."
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