Boko Haram kills 34 in Potiskum, Chad
Boko Haram and Jega
Two suicide bombers believed to be Boko Haram terrorists hit Potiskum, the second largest town in Yobe State on Monday morning, killing 11 people and wounding eight others.
An eyewitness, Idris Abdul, told one of our correspondents via the telephone that one of the bombers first attacked a vigilante group office at the Dorowa area of the town with an Improvised Explosive Device .
According to him, the terrorist and seven other people died on the spot.
A member of the youth vigilante group, Ibrahim Haruna, who also spoke on the attack, said, ‘‘A young man came to our office with a laptop bag but we insisted that anybody that wanted to enter must be searched. But as he pretended to be opening his bag, he detonated an explosive.”
He disclosed that one of those killed was the commander of the vigilante group, adding that while people were trying to overcome the shock occasioned by the vigilance office attack, the second suicide bomber struck in a pub.
Haruna added, “When everyone was still in shock over the attack in our office, another explosion happened five minutes after at a ‘drinking joint’ in the same neighbourhood.”
Three persons, including the bomber, were killed in the explosion.
According to Haruna, the bomber walked into the pub and requested a drink before detonating the explosive device strapped to his body.
The dead and the injured were taken to the Accident and Emergency Unit of the General Hospital, Potiskum.
Monday’s attack came just a day after Boko Haram militants attacked Babangida, the headquarters of the Tarmuwa Local Government Area of Yobe State.
Also on Monday, Boko Haram insurgents killed 23 people in Chad, one of the countries teaming up with Nigeria under a Multinational Joint Task Force, to defeat the militant Islamist sect.
Four of the insurgents also lost their lives and 100 others injured in the attacks on N’Djamena.
The attacks are the first of their kind in Chad, an oil-producing nation and a major Western ally which has also spearheaded offensives on al-Qaeda-linked groups in Mali.
“Boko Haram is making a mistake by targeting Chad,” Communications Minister Hassan Bakari said on state television.
“These lawless terrorists will be chased out and neutralised wherever they are,” he vowed.
Bakari did not give further details but Interior Minister Abderahim Hamid told Reuters earlier that there had been at least one suicide attack at the police headquarters.
One witness at the central police station said he had seen three bodies on the ground.
Photos circulated on Twitter showed several blood-stained bodies and damaged motorbikes reportedly used in the attack.
Chad has lost dozens of soldiers fighting in northern Mali and in northern Nigeria. The first known attack by Boko Haram on Chadian soil took place in February on the shores of Lake Chad and has been followed by a handful of other isolated incidents.
We’ll work with Buhari to defeat B’Haram –US
Meanwhile, the United States has said it will work with President Muhammadu Buhari to stop the activities of Boko Haram in Nigeria and its neighbouring countries.
The US Assistant Secretary, Bureau of African Affairs, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, made the promise during a telephonic press briefing at the 25th African Union Summit in South Africa on Monday.
She said, “Fighting terrorism is not easy. Since 2001, we have been fighting terrorism and we will continue to fight terrorists. Fighting in Africa requires support of the entire region.”
Thomas-Greenfield added that the Boko Haram insurgency was not a Nigerian problem alone. Because of this, she said. Washington was working closely with Nigeria’s neighbours to curtail the activities of the terrorist group.
According to her, the US was not only committing $5m to Nigeria’s efforts at defeating Boko Haram, it had been giving equipment and technical assistance to the Federal Government.
But contrary to Buhari’s statement on Sunday, the assistant secretary said that Africa was not under siege. She however admitted that the continent was facing “really horrific attacks in recent times.”
“I’ll not say Africa is under siege. I’ll say Africa is facing some challenging security situations,” she said.
Source: PUNCH
Two suicide bombers believed to be Boko Haram terrorists hit Potiskum, the second largest town in Yobe State on Monday morning, killing 11 people and wounding eight others.
An eyewitness, Idris Abdul, told one of our correspondents via the telephone that one of the bombers first attacked a vigilante group office at the Dorowa area of the town with an Improvised Explosive Device .
According to him, the terrorist and seven other people died on the spot.
A member of the youth vigilante group, Ibrahim Haruna, who also spoke on the attack, said, ‘‘A young man came to our office with a laptop bag but we insisted that anybody that wanted to enter must be searched. But as he pretended to be opening his bag, he detonated an explosive.”
He disclosed that one of those killed was the commander of the vigilante group, adding that while people were trying to overcome the shock occasioned by the vigilance office attack, the second suicide bomber struck in a pub.
Haruna added, “When everyone was still in shock over the attack in our office, another explosion happened five minutes after at a ‘drinking joint’ in the same neighbourhood.”
Three persons, including the bomber, were killed in the explosion.
According to Haruna, the bomber walked into the pub and requested a drink before detonating the explosive device strapped to his body.
The dead and the injured were taken to the Accident and Emergency Unit of the General Hospital, Potiskum.
Monday’s attack came just a day after Boko Haram militants attacked Babangida, the headquarters of the Tarmuwa Local Government Area of Yobe State.
Also on Monday, Boko Haram insurgents killed 23 people in Chad, one of the countries teaming up with Nigeria under a Multinational Joint Task Force, to defeat the militant Islamist sect.
Four of the insurgents also lost their lives and 100 others injured in the attacks on N’Djamena.
The attacks are the first of their kind in Chad, an oil-producing nation and a major Western ally which has also spearheaded offensives on al-Qaeda-linked groups in Mali.
“Boko Haram is making a mistake by targeting Chad,” Communications Minister Hassan Bakari said on state television.
“These lawless terrorists will be chased out and neutralised wherever they are,” he vowed.
Bakari did not give further details but Interior Minister Abderahim Hamid told Reuters earlier that there had been at least one suicide attack at the police headquarters.
One witness at the central police station said he had seen three bodies on the ground.
Photos circulated on Twitter showed several blood-stained bodies and damaged motorbikes reportedly used in the attack.
Chad has lost dozens of soldiers fighting in northern Mali and in northern Nigeria. The first known attack by Boko Haram on Chadian soil took place in February on the shores of Lake Chad and has been followed by a handful of other isolated incidents.
We’ll work with Buhari to defeat B’Haram –US
Meanwhile, the United States has said it will work with President Muhammadu Buhari to stop the activities of Boko Haram in Nigeria and its neighbouring countries.
The US Assistant Secretary, Bureau of African Affairs, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, made the promise during a telephonic press briefing at the 25th African Union Summit in South Africa on Monday.
She said, “Fighting terrorism is not easy. Since 2001, we have been fighting terrorism and we will continue to fight terrorists. Fighting in Africa requires support of the entire region.”
Thomas-Greenfield added that the Boko Haram insurgency was not a Nigerian problem alone. Because of this, she said. Washington was working closely with Nigeria’s neighbours to curtail the activities of the terrorist group.
According to her, the US was not only committing $5m to Nigeria’s efforts at defeating Boko Haram, it had been giving equipment and technical assistance to the Federal Government.
But contrary to Buhari’s statement on Sunday, the assistant secretary said that Africa was not under siege. She however admitted that the continent was facing “really horrific attacks in recent times.”
“I’ll not say Africa is under siege. I’ll say Africa is facing some challenging security situations,” she said.
Source: PUNCH
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