Two suicide bombers – a male and female – attacked a heavily populated Maiduguri market, killing scores of people, an eyewitness, Yusuf Ahmed, said on Tuesday.
An unconfirmed source said 65 corpses had been evacuated while others claimed 30 people were killed in the explosion.
“As I am talking to you, people are still trying to rescue the injured and evacuate the corpses. It is difficult to know the number of casualties,” Ahmed told our correspondent on the telephone.
He said the place had been condoned off by security agencies making it difficult to assist in the rescue operations.
Another youth vigilante source confirmed that the female attacker kept a parcel in one of the shops on One-way, a commercial area beside the popular Monday Market, telling the traders that she had something to pick from the market,
“The package detonated few minutes later. And as people were still wondering what happened and trying to rescue the injured, a bomber in the same area detonated a bomb planted on her; this claimed so many lives,” the source said.
Another source claimed that the third bombing suspect was caught by the people. This also could not be confirmed as the police had yet to give an official confirmation of the explosion.
However, a military source who craved anonymity told our correspondent in Maiduguri that the suicide bombers hit the market at 11:23am.
“I can confirm that there were two suicide bombers, but they are a male and female. The first suicide bomber was a female and hid the bomb on herself which she detonated at the vicinity of the market.
“Just as the people gathered around her corpse and a few other people that died in the first explosion, a male, this time around, detonated the explosive on him which killed several people.
“No one can give you the exact casualty now but over 30 persons were killed and many have been rushed to the hospital.”
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