…as female bomber kills three, injures 7
Not fewer than 30 people were abducted by suspected Boko Haram insurgents on Damaturu/Maiduguri highway on Saturday.
Eyewitness reports said the insurgents mounted a checkpoint between Jakana and Auno towns less than 30km to Maidiguri, Borno State capital where they stopped many vehicles and whisked away the people they wanted.
One woman was reportedly killed during the operation which was said to have lasted more than 30 minutes.
Both the police and the military have not issued any official statement.
Some commercial drivers along the route confirmed the incident, saying that it occurred around 5pm on Friday.
“We stopped afar and noticed the boys moving people into the bush. We already close to the checkpoint when I saw one vehicle reverse with speed and warned us not to advance,” a commercial driver said.
It is not clear the number of people that were taken away, but a said that more than 30 travellers might have been kidnapped.
In another development, a female suicide bomber detonated self, killing three people and injuring seven others at Konduga town yesterday.
The victims were identified as Islamic scholars who sat in front of their house when the suicide bomber approached them and blew herself up.
Agency reports quoted a local government official as saying that the bomber targeted a crowded area in the town.
“The bomber snuck into the area and detonated her explosives, leaving three people dead,” the official said, asking not to be named because he was not authorised to speak on the issue.
This was the first such attack in some seven months in Konduga, located just about 16 kilometres (10 miles) from a major base of the Boko Haram terror group.
A news agency quoted a local security official, Ahmadu Khali, as saying that the casualty figures would have been much higher if the bomber had managed to move further inside the crowded area.
No group has claimed responsibility but residents blame it on Boko Haram, which has been responsible for multiple similar attacks in Nigeria.
