Boko Haram Returns: Bombs, Kills Scores In A Daring Attack

Members of the dreaded Islamic sect, Boko Haram, have again bombed a market in Nguro-Soye, near Bama, Borno State, killing over 30 persons. Reuters reported on Sunday that the attack on the market was said to have been carried out on Saturday night.

“I travelled to Bama to buy bags of beans. Suddenly, there was a deafening bang at the middle of the market. It was in the late afternoon and commercial activities were at their peak,” said Shuaibu Abdulahi, a trader at the market. 

“People were helping in evacuating the corpses after the confusion had died down. Some people who were injured were taken to the general hospital.”

Said Mr. Abba Tahir, a bus driver who was offloading passengers at the market when the bomb went off...

Borno State Police Commissioner, Lawal Tanko, confirmed the incident. He said, “An explosion in the market in Nguro-Soye killed 17 people.”

Bama is a border town and the headquarter of the Bama Local Government Area of Borno State. It is about 135 kilometres from Maiduguri, the state capital.

The town is not new to attacks by the Boko Haram insurgents. The 202 Army Battalion Barracks located in the town was hit by Boko Haram in December 2013.

Several women and children, mostly wives and wards of soldiers, who battled the insurgents for over seven hours, were killed in the attack launched at about 3am.

On February 19, they also attacked Bama. Confirming the February attack, Governor Kashim Shettima had said the attackers “inflicted a lot of damage on the town.” A Borno State senator, Ahmed Zanna, had then told the BBC that the attack on Bama lasted for five hours with impunity.