Twenty-seven persons were killed and 62 others injured during bomb attacks on Monguno, a town about 135 kilometres from Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State.
A member of the youth vigilante group, Idris Baba, told on Tuesday said the Monguno attack happened at about the same time 54 persons were killed through bombs planted by members of the Boko Haram Islamic sect in Maiduguri on Sunday.
He said a bomb explosion from a suicide bomber hit the Onion section of a local market at Monguno on Sunday evening, which resulted in the death of not less than 27 persons, mostly traders.
A medical officer at the state Specialists Hospital, Maiduguri, who spoke anonymously, said, “Five vehicles conveyed 62 injured persons from the Monguno attack to the Specialists Hospital in Maiduguri (on Monday afternoon) but we quickly asked them to go to the University Teaching Hospital, because our facilities are over-stretched.”
A resident of Monguno, Baana Abubakar, who accompanied some of the injured persons to Maiduguri, confirmed that 27 persons were killed.
“I was at the Onion market after the bomb explosion to help in the rescue of people. I counted 27 dead bodies from the scene,” he said.
“We lost 27 people in the bomb blast. Our people have started burying the dead ones. One of the injured ones we brought to Maiduguri today also died,” he said.
Confirming the attack, the Borno State Police Commissioner, Aderemi Opadokun, said, “Yes, at about 1330 hrs of 21/9/15, caretaker Chairman of Monguno Local Government reported an IED Explosion at Monguno Onion Market at about 2130 hrs of 20/9/15.
“Some people died on the spot while others sustained various degrees of injuries. Injured victims were transferred to UMTH, Maiduguri, while the dead were buried by their relations. The scene has been visited. Investigation is presently in progress.”
