By Sadiq Abubakar
Maiduguri
Fourteen people have been confirmed dead in another explosion, which rocked the Sunday Market in Damaturu, the Yobe state capital.
Police Public Relations Officer, Yobe Police Command, ASP Toyin Gbadegesin, who confirmed the incident said a female suicide bomber aged about 10 years, detonated an Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) at the main entrance of the Damaturu market.
The incident, he said, occurred yesterday around 9:30 in the morning.
He said at time of filling the report, 15 persons had died, while 47 others were receiving treatment at the Sani Abacha specialists Hospital, Damaturu.
The PPRO also revealed that five units of undetonated IEDs were also recovered at the scene of the suicide bomb blast and cautioned people to be careful with people carrying hand bags or leather bags as the Boko Haram militants had resorted to using such containers in conveying their explosive devices.
At the scene of the bomb blast, security was beefed-up, while a combined rescue team of National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and Red Cross, among other volunteers, were on ground to evacuate dead bodies as well as convey those injured to the hospital.
While at the Sani Abacha Hospital, officials declined to comment on the casualties because of the severity of the victims as residents besieged the entire hospital to confirm whether their relations, loved ones and friends were involved in the bomb blast or not.
Yesterday’s female suicide bomb blast came six days after the five suicide bombers in a highlander Jeep detonated an IED at a Police check point at the entrance of Damaturu town the Yobe state capital.
It will also be recalled that the Yobe Police command had within the week recovered several IEDs cylinders in the Highlander Jeep, weapons in Gulani LGA of the state as well as the arrest of seven suspected armed robbers terrorising Nguru-Kano road in the northern part of the state.
