Boko Haram bombers blown up in failed attack on mosque

Luck ran out for two suspected Boko Haram suicide bombers in the early hours of Monday, at they blew themselves up near Sulemanti Mosque in Maiduguri metropolis, Borno State, after a failed attack on the mosque.

Confirming the incident, the Borno State Police Command said the suspects, strapped with Improvised Explosive Devices, IEDs, targeted a mosque in Sulemanti.

The bombs however went off, killing the two suspects during midnight Ramadan prayers.

Spokesman of Borno Police Command, Isuku Victor, stated that “a team of Police Explosives Ordinance Department, EOD, has been deployed to the scene this morning (yesterday) near Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, depot.”

Shedding more light on the incident, a civilian Joint Task Force member, Bukar Fantami, said the suicide bombers were intercepted near the mosque premises, where they blew themselves up.

Fantami said: “The people in the mosque took to their heels, while we challenged the explosives-strapped suspects on their mission to the mosque, before the explosives exploded near the mosque, under this tree.

“It was God that saved us. We would have been killed in the dawn suicide bombings. One of our members was injured by a shrapnel from the explosives. A woman also sustained a leg injury. She has been taken to a nearby clinic for treatment.”

Read also: IGP eases out Kolawole, appoints new Force spokesman

In a related development, the Defence Headquarters, DHQ, on Monday, warned that Boko Haram insurgents have devised a new means of evading identification by dressing like local vigilantes and hunters.

 

According to the DHQ, the insurgents devised these modes of dressing because of the coordinated offensive against the remnants of Boko Haram terrorists in Sambisa Forest.

 

According to a statement issued by the Acting Director of Defence Information, Brig. General Rabe Abubakar, “The terrorists, after being smoked out of Sambisa forest, in their desperation to wreak havoc on innocent Nigerians and to remain relevant, devised a new tactic of dressing like vigilantes or hunters to deceive unsuspecting members of the public of their true identity.

 

“The case of Kuda-Kaya village in Madadali community of Adamawa State where a group of Boko Haram terrorists, dressed like vigilantes, opened fire on celebrants during a ceremony readily comes to mind.

 

“The general public is hereby advised to be wary of unsubscribed services or presence of vigilantes or hunters in their neighbourhood in order not to ignorantly harbour killer gang in their midst.

 

“Members of the public are also advised to be security conscious, at all times, and report promptly to security agencies any suspicious persons or group of persons in their community or raise alarm, where and when necessary”.

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