Police confirm 6 dead in suicide attack

Borno Police Command on Wednesday confirmed the killing of five persons, including four suspected suicide bombers, after an early morning attack in Usmanti village near Muna Garage in Maiduguri.

Mr Damian Chukwu, the state Commissioner of Police, confirmed the incident in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Maiduguri.

Chukwu said about eight villagers were also injured during the attack.

He said the teenage bombers had invaded the village in the odd hours of the day.

“Four teenage girls, suspected to be suicide bombers, invaded the village in the odd hours of the day.

“The villagers gathered and tried to stop them but three of the bombers detonated explosives wrapped around their bodies.

“All the bombers died on the spot.

“A popular villager called Auwalu also died in the incident”, he said.

“The Police Anti Bomb Unit has visited the area and rendered it safe,” said the Borno police commissioner.

However, an official of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) put the casualty figure at six.

NEMA North East Information Officer, Malam Abdul-Kadir Ibrahim, said in a statement in Maiduguri that four suspected bombers and two villagers died in the incident.

“Four teenage female suspected suicide bombers and two villagers died when the bombers detonated their explosives at Usmanti village along Muna Garage in the early hours of Wednesday.

“16 people who got injured were administered with first aid by rescue workers before being evacuated for medical attention,” Ibrahim said.

He said that “some of the victims were transported to the Specialist Hospital, while others were taken to the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital for treatment.”