Female suicide bomber ‘kills 15′ in Yobe

Fifteen people were killed and 47 others injured in a suicide bomb attack on a crowded market in Damaturu on Sunday, Mr Toyin Gbadegeshin, the Police Public Relations Officer in Yobe, confirmed.

“We evacuated 15 dead bodies to the hospital, including the suicide bomber who was identified as a mentally unstable woman that had been known for years in the area”, he said, adding that the bomber was around 40 years old.

The blast set off by another female suicide bomber tore through a crowded market in the city, at about 9.30 A.M, the latest in a series of attacks in the last few weeks that bear the hallmarks of militant Islamist group Boko Haram.

The police spokesman said that suicide bombers used mortars similar to those recovered from suspected bombers on the Maiduguri-Damaturu highway on Monday.

About nine people were killed at the Eid praying ground, still in Damaturu during the last Eid al-Fitr celebration.

“It was a messy scene to behold”. Another three received injuries.

An eye witness, Mallam Samaila Audu, said: “A girl of around 20 blew herself up at the entrance of Sunday Market in Damaturu near sugar cane and chicken sellers”.

“The woman confessed that their third company was asked to take her explosives to the hospital with the intention of detonating bomb when people coming to see the casualties gathered there”.