Five Killed, 36 Injured in Yobe Suicide Bombing

19 Jan 2015

Vice-President Namadi Sambo

• Sambo, Sanusi, Shehu of Borno urge Muslims to rise against insurgency  • Sect kidnaps 60 in Cameroun as thousands see off Chadian troops

Michael Olugbode with agency report    


Another suicide bombing at a bus station in Potiskum, the commercial nerve centre of Yobe State, has killed five persons and injured 36 others, a hospital source has revealed.

Speaking on the phone to THISDAY from Potiskum, a member of staff of the General Hospital in the town said of the 41 persons brought to the hospital, five were dead and 36 others are injured.

He said the death toll might rise, as some of the injured were struggling to stay alive. “Some of them are brutally injured,” he explained.

He also revealed that nine persons had been referred to the Federal Medical Centres in Azare, Bauchi State and Nguru in Yobe State.

It was gathered that the suicide mission was carried out by a bomber disguised as a passenger at the Bulala bus park in the town yesterday.
Investigations revealed that the suicide bomber and four others died instantly as a result of the blast.

A bus park source, Adamu Yusuf, said the suicide bomber sneaked into the Bulala park adjacent to Fika junction along the Bauchi-Jos Road.
“He pretended to be a passenger and detonated the explosive devices killing himself and four others on the spot.

“The explosion went off around 9.50am on Sunday (yesterday) at the Bulala park close to Ibal filling station along Jos Road. As I speak, we counted five dead bodies but so many others are lying critically injured and are being conveyed to the nearby hospital in Potiskum for immediate medical attention,” Yusuf said.

Sunday’s blast was the third in the space of three weeks in Potiskum.
Penultimate Sunday, the scene of the bombing was in a crowded market carried out by two female suicide attackers, one believed to be aged 15.

Brutal raids, massacres, suicide bomb attacks and kidnappings by Boko Haram have claimed at least 13,000 lives and driven an estimated 1.5 million people from their homes, mainly in arid North-east Nigeria.

Neighbouring Cameroun, Chad and Niger have launched a regional bid to combat the Islamists, as their attacks spread beyond Nigeria and concern mounts over the failure of Nigerian troops to regain control.

However, as the attacks spearheaded by Boko Haram escalate, the Emir of Kano, Malam Muhammad Sanusi II, on Sunday called on Muslims across the country to rise against insurgency, reported the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

Sanusi made the call at the closing ceremony of the 29th National Qur’anic Recitation Competition in Auchi, Etsako West Local Government Area of Edo State.

“We have people fighting in the name of Islam; who are the people being killed in Borno, Yobe, Gombe and Adamawa?

“Borno must be liberated, Gombe must be liberated; every state with insurgency must be liberated.

“Every Muslim must come together and say no to insurgency," he said.
Sanusi urged governments to ensure the protection of lives and property of their citizens.

“Any state that cannot protect its citizens has no fundamental reason of existence and we must continue to ask that we are protected,” he said.
The emir faulted the Boko Haram sect for using Islam to fight their war, saying that the group was destroying what Islam stood for.

He urged Muslim leaders to continue to preach peace and to ensure that Islam is not distorted by the Boko Haram sect.

He, however, advised the competitors to always practise what they memorise from the Holy Qur’an, adding: “It is not enough to memorise the Holy Qur’an but to act on the content of the holy book.”

Also speaking, Vice-President Namadi Sambo urged Muslim leaders to continue to pray and support government in the fight against insurgency.

Sambo, who was represented by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Islamic Matters, Malam Tahir Usman, restated
government’s commitment to ending insurgency in the North-east zone.
In his remarks, the Shehu of Borno, Alhaji Abubakar El-Kanemi, said that the Holy Qur’an enjoins Muslims to stand for peace, justice and greater understanding and the knowledge of the book.

“I urge the Imams and other Muslims to rededicate themselves to the teaching and learning of the Holy Qur’an. Islam is a religion of peace and we must apply every principle to it.

“It is therefore imperative for us always to pray for peace and security in our country. Violence will not pay; that is my goodwill message,” he said.

One Khadija Abdullahi from Plateau State emerged the overall winner in the female category of the competition, while Yusuf Dukku from Gombe State emerged winner in the male category.

Meanwhile, suspected Boko Haram insurgents have kidnapped at least 60 people in neighbouring Cameroun, government officials said yesterday.

They said many of those kidnapped in the cross border attack against villages were children.

Several people were killed, security officials said.
In yesterday’s attack, suspected militants “burst into two villages in the Tourou area,” a police officer told AFP.

“They torched houses and left with around 60 people. Most of these people were women and children.”

The officials told Reuters that as many as 80 people had been kidnapped. Those abducted included about 30 adults and 50 young children, an army officer deployed to northern Cameroun told the agency.

Cameroun has criticised Nigeria for failing to do more to confront Boko Haram.

In a related incident, tens of thousands of people joined a march in N'Djamena on Saturday in support of Chadian troops heading to Nigeria and Cameroun to fight Boko Haram.

Marching some five kilometres (three miles) through Chad's capital, demonstrators waved the national flag and chanted in French and Arabic: “Kick the forces of evil out of our territory.”

Prime Minister Kalzeube Pahimi Deubet said the march sent “a strong signal, a warning to Boko Haram”.
The event came as a huge convoy set off from N'Djamena to combat the Islamists sowing terror in northeastern Nigeria and northern Cameroun.

Thousands of locals hailed the arrival of some 400 vehicles in the Camerounian border town of Kousseri, an AFP journalist reported.
Early this month, Boko Haram launched a full-scale assault on the strategic town of Baga on the banks of Lake Chad, which straddles the borders of Chad, Nigeria, Niger and Cameroun.

Chad is part of a regional force against Boko Haram that was based in Baga -- but both Chad and Niger had withdrawn their troops before the January 3 attack.

Chadian President Idris Derby said in a speech read by the speaker of parliament that the new deployment was aimed at recapturing Baga.

“We answered the call of (Cameroun's) President Paul Biya. We cannot remain indifferent to what happens to our neighbours,” Derby said as his troops crossed into Cameroun.

“Cameroun must not be left alone to face this threat that has so hurt innocent people in Cameroun and in Nigeria,” he added, calling for a “broad coalition” to fight Boko Haram.

But Nigeria expressed lukewarm support for the Chad mission.
“All support for our operations will be welcome, but it must conform with our own ongoing operations,” Nigerian army spokesman, Chris Olukolade told AFP.

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