Three suspected suicide bombers believed to be members of the Boko Haram sect yesterday lost their lives in separate bomb blasts that rocked the Borno State capital, barely 48 hours to Sallah celebrations.
Eyewitnesses said that the three men died in their failed attempts to attack the headquarters of the Joint Task Force, JTF, a group of military men deployed to keep law and order in the state in the wake of sustained mayhem in the state.
It was learnt that while the suicide bombers went in to unleashed terror on the JTF building, another set of bombers were on hand to attack the El-Kanemi College of Theology opposite? the state office of the State Security Service, SSS with the explosion of multiple bombs.
Confirming the incident, the spokesman of the JTF Lt. Col. Hassan Mohammed said that sect members who came in a jeep tried to force themselves into the premises of the JTF where men of the JTF engaged them in fire fight.
Col. Mohammed said that on realizing that they could not gain access to the premises, the sect members detonated the bombs and killed themselves.
The JTF spokesman disclosed that while the suspects died on the spot, some soldiers sustained what he called ‘minor injuries’ and were rushed to the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH) for treatment and had since been discharged.
Although the Borno State Police Commissioner, Mr. Simeon Midenda confirmed the three explosions, he declined to give details claiming that he was yet to be fully briefed on the situation.??
Stern-looking soldiers immediately cordoned off the all routes to the venue of the blast at El-Kanemi Road, while residents began to flee the area for fear of possible attacks.
Sources said that a soldier and a civilian suspected to be member of the Boko Haram were reportedly killed in the JTF headquarters explosion.
It was not clear how the frightened residents would come with the situation as the Sallah celebration is on Sunday.
However, security has been beefed up in Maiduguri and its environs, as military personnel were seen patrolling the major streets of the city with soldiers frisking motorists and pedestrians.