MAIDUGURI, Nigeria
Fifteen people were killed and 41 injured by twin blasts that went off at an open area in which worshippers were performing Eid al-Fitr prayers in the city of Damaturu, according to local sources.
Dr. Adamu Fika, medical director at the Damaturu Specialists Hospital, told journalists that 15 bodies had been brought to the hospital.
“Forty-one others sustained various degrees of injury and are currently being treated at the accident and emergency unit,” he said.
Yusuf Manu, an eyewitness, said a female bomber – thought to belong to the notorious Boko Haram group – had walked into the area, which is located in the city’s center not far from the Yobe State governor’s office at about 8am.
“She came in just as worshippers were entering the area,” Manu told Anadolu Agency by phone. “I saw the woman, who was wearing a black hijab [full face veil], when the bomb went off.”
“There were about 15 people nearby when the blast occurred,” he added.
Monday Abu, a local resident, for his part, said he saw more than ten bodies being removed from the blast site.
A police officer, meanwhile, speaking anonymously, said at least ten people had been killed by the bombings.
“The bodies were removed by police and rescue workers minutes after a bomb-disposal squad cleared the scene,” he told Anadolu Agency.
The source went on to say that a second blast occurred about two minutes after the first one.
“We aren’t yet sure whether the second bomb had been planted earlier or was set off by the bomber,” he said, amid conflicting reports as to the number of bombers.
A source at the State Specialist Hospital confirmed that ten dead bodies had been taken from the scene, adding that 12 injured persons were receiving treatment.
Friday’s blast occurred as the country’s new army chief, Major-General Tukur Buratai, arrived in the provincial capital from capital Abuja to celebrate the Eid al-Fitr with army troops.
Buratai performed Eid prayers with the Yobe State Governor Ibrahim Gaidam at Damaturu’s central mosque, according to Joel Igbadu, a local journalist.
In a subsequent statement, however, Colonel Sani Kukasheka Usman, an army spokesman, attributed the bombings to two suicide bombers.
“There were two suicide bomb explosions today at about 7:40am in Damaturu, Yobe State in which two female suicide bombers – an elderly woman and a ten-year-old girl – detonated devices at areas reserved for Muslim worshippers,” the statement read.
It added: “Four people died in the first explosion and seven were injured, while another five lost their lives – and 11 were wounded – in the second explosion.”
“Troops and security agencies responded immediately,” the statement went on. “The situation is now under control.”
On Thursday, 48 people were killed by a similar twin bombing at a market in northeastern Nigeria's Gombe State.
