SUICIDE bomber in a Sports Utility
Vehicle (SUV) yesterday attacked the
Joint Task Force (JTF) military post in
Shagari Quarters of Damaturu
metropolis and killed six soldiers and
two civilians. This came barely 48 hours after the
bombing of the Potiskum Central
Mosque (PCM) in Yobe State. Besides, the alleged killings of residents
in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital,
have remained unabated, as a former
state Commissioner of Environment,
Alhaji Kadiri Kaza’a and a senior officer
with the Nigeria Immigration Services (NIS), Mohammed Lawan, were
yesterday shot dead at their residences
before their wives and children at
Bayan Railway Quarters and Gwange
wards of the metropolis. The suicide car bomber in the SUV,
according to an eyewitness drove to a
military checkpoint, detonated the
explosives and killed six men of the JTF
and two passersby. He said: “The suicide-bomber took the
soldiers by surprise, that is why the
lone suspected Boko Haram bomber,
was able to blow up one of the military
checkpoints at the Shagari Quarters,
killing eight people. The sound of the blast was also devastating.” Speaking on the blasts yesterday in
Damaturu, the state capital, Police
Commissioner, Patrick Egbuniwe said
that the blast occurred at the Shagari
Quarters military checkpoint at about
12.30p.m., killing six soldiers and two civilians caught up in the blast. Egbuniwe further disclosed that “the
incident occurred when one Sports
Utility Vehicle (SUV) was stopped at the
military post at a residential quarters,
but the driver of the vehicle detonated
the bombs installed in the vehicle and blew up six soldiers and two civilians
that were about passing the checkpoint
this afternoon.” Confirming the multiple attacks and
killings yesterday in Maiduguri, the
Borno State Police Public Relations
Officer, Gidieon Jibrin said the retired
government official and immigration
officer attached to the Passport Office at the Customs Area were yesterday
morning trailed to their respective residences by
suspected gunmen. He said when the gunmen got to their
homes in Bayan Quarters and Gwange
wards of the metropolis, they asked for
the whereabouts of Kaza’a and Lawan. He added that the suspects who
disguised as errands boys opened fire
and shot them dead at close range in
the chests and heads before their family
members yesterday. On whether arrests were made, he said
no, but that investigations had commenced, as
information provided by some
residents could assist in apprehending
the suspected assassins.