At least 19 people were killed after an Improvised Explosive Device (IED), suspected to be planted by Boko Haram insurgents, detonated at a local joint in Kawuri village, Konduga Local Government Area of Borno State, on Wednesday.
The incident occurred three days after insurgents attacked a police station in Jakana town, also within Konduga LGA. A policeman and a woman were killed in that attack, and two patrol vans were set ablaze.
A government official from the village reported that the bomb exploded around 8:05 PM at a local tea joint where villagers had gathered for an evening chat, adding that dozens of people were also injured.
“Nobody can say exactly how it happened, but we suspect that the bomb was planted, rather than being a suicide attack.
“We saw the corpses of 19 people, along with an unspecified number of civilians injured. The injured were evacuated to an undisclosed hospital in Maiduguri for treatment,” the source said on condition of anonymity.
Kawuri community is located about 50 kilometers from Maiduguri, the state capital.
The incident occurred just 24 hours after Shettima Mustapha, an accountant working with the Local Education Authority in Damboa Local Government Area, was killed when his vehicle ran into an IED along the Maiduguri-Damboa-Biu highway in Borno.
Efforts to contact the Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Kenneth Daso, were unsuccessful, as his phone could not be reached at the time of filing this report.
This incident comes on the eve of a planned nationwide protest, which the government has repeatedly warned could be hijacked by hoodlums and terrorists.
