Suspected members
of the 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.