Latest on Boko Haram issues

A bomb explosion followed by bursts of sporadic gunfire hit Maiduguri shortly after 7am yesterday, leaving at least one soldier dead and four others critically injured. The unusually loud blast in the

Abbaganaram area caused widespread panic and led to a shutdown of activities in the Borno State capital, where the Boko Haram sect has been waging a campaign of violence since last year.

Commander of the Joint Task Force (JTF) Major General Jack Nwaogbo, who confirmed the blast, said no civilian was affected but that three of his personnel were injured. The injured soldiers were receiving treatment at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH) yesterday.

Residents of the area where the bomb exploded said they saw six corpses of security personnel close to a check point where they normally park their vehicles for routine surveillance, but military sources said only one soldier died.

It was not possible to confirm the actual casualty figure because the area was barricaded throughout yesterday.

Military sources said the explosive was apparently planted late Tuesday night by suspected members of the Boko Haram sect, knowing that the JTF members would stay in the place in the morning for the usual stop-and-search of vehicles.

But another source in the area said a small boy came carrying a big water cooler disguised as a sachet water vendor and left the container close to the military checkpoint early yesterday.

“It was after the blast that the security operatives realized that an explosive was concealed in the water coolant and a remote control was used to detonate it shortly after the JTF men arrived the place in their Hilux vehicle,” the source said.

Our correspondents report that there was tension in Maiduguri throughout yesterday as security operatives kept on shooting in the air while a helicopter hovered in the sky.

No curfew was officially imposed but most banks, markets and business places in the city closed around 12pm yesterday while military and police mounted countless road blocks in the metropolis.

“It is unfortunate that if you don’t have an ATM, you cannot withdraw money…we are really in trouble here,” Mr Joseph Nkem, a school teacher, said.

The entire Abbaganaram area was cordoned off by the policemen and soldiers even as they launched a house-to-house search for those behind the bombing.

Residents of Lawan Bukar, Kumshe, Shehuri North and Kawar Maila areas who could not go out of their houses till late in the afternoon yesterday alleged that the JTF operatives subjected them to a lot trauma.

“The soldiers entered all the houses in this area and arrested our husbands and children who are above the age of 16. They beat and harassed anyone that complained or attempted to resist arrest,” Amina Musa, a housewife in Abbaganaram, said.

The military have reportedly vandalized over 20 vehicles along the road leading to the Shehu of Borno’s place.

“Unfortunately when the soldiers realized that some of their men have been killed, they lost control and smashed the windscreens of our vehicles and punctured the tyres,” Zanna Musa, a resident of Hausari, said.

A journalist, Sadiq Abubakar, said he was also attacked. “Two military men at the Ahmadu Bello Way stopped me around 1pm and punctured the tyres of my car without asking me to identify myself or where I was going,” he said.

As at the time of filing this report, there was no official comment from the military regarding these allegations.