Two female suicide bomber were behind the twin attacks which rocked Borno State capital, Maiduguri, on Saturday, killing at least nine people and injuring 24 others.
One explosion happened outside a gas station, while the other was near the Bakassi camp for internally displaced persons (IDP), underscoring the continued threat from Boko Haram jihadists who are suspected of being behind the attacks.
The first attack by a female suicide bomber occurred at 6 a.m in front of a camp for the internally displaced persons in the Bakassi area as scores of people were coming out of the camp to begin a new day. Five persons died at the scene.
Minutes later a second bomb went off near the NNPC mega station.
Army spokesman Colonel Sani Usman said that the bomber was tailing a fuel tanker that was about to discharge fuel at the station.
He said, “Miraculously, a car came in between them. The bomber, whether by error or whatever detonated, killing all the three occupants of the tricycle.There was no other person involved.”
Usman said the General Officer Commanding 7 Division, Brigadier-General Victor Ezugwu has gone to the scenes of the attacks.
Usman confirmed that bodies of the dead have been carried away by government emergency services. The Police, he said, would issue a statement on the two incidents.
The bombings came 17 days after a car bomb that killed 10 people when a convoy was hit in the outskirt of the city.
The explosion at Muna garage hit the convoy with a military escort as it made its way to Gamboru Ngala.