“A girl aged about 10 detonated an explosive under her clothes as she approached the market’s perimeter fence,” said Danbaba Nguru, a shopkeeper who witnessed the attack.
The head of the local Sani Abacha General Hospital, Dr Garba Fika, said six bodies and 32 injured had arrived there with one person dying after being admitted.
The Damaturu market has been repeatedly targeted in a string of previous suicide attacks.
“I was in the station when I saw the young girl arrive,” said bus driver Musbahu Lawan.
“I think she noticed the guards checking people at the gates and decided to detonate the explosive in the middle of the crowd outside the gates.”
Nguru added: “The road leading to the gates is always full of small traders… I was lucky not to have been hit.”
No claim of responsibility for the attack has been made but Islamist group Boko Haram has frequently used young girls to carry out suicide attacks.
Fika, who spoke while briefing Gov. Ibrahim Gaidam about the condition of the victims, yesterday, said: “ We received a total of 33 victims of bomb blast that occurred an hour ago; all of them sustained various degree of injuries, out of which seven are dead, while seven are under very critical condition.
“ We might refer those in critical condition to the Federal Medical Centre, Nguru and Federal Medical Centre Azare in Bauchi State respectively.
The Yobe State government had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with these health institutions, in case of emergency of this nature.
The medical director of Sani Abacha General Hospital, however, said that the victims, with mild injuries, were responding to treatment and would be discharged soon..
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Crime