Scores of people have been killed in Zabarmari village, 10 kilometres from Maiduguri, capital of Borno state, north east Nigeria after at least six female suicide bombers loyal to the Boko Haram terror group blew themselves in the middle of a huge crowd.
The latest carnage in series of attacks that have claimed more than 200 lives in just three days happened Friday. According to an AFP tally, no fewer than 650 people have been killed since President Muhammadu Buhari took over in May.
Local resident Haladu Musa, who fled the attack, told how ‘large numbers’ of fighters poured into the village, overpowering government forces deployed to prevent the insurgents reaching Maiduguri.
Then, as people began to flee, a number of female suicide bombers started blowing themselves up in their midst, killing large numbers of people, he said.
‘Most of the casualties came from the suicide bombings,’ he said, without being able to give a precise figure for the dead and injured, Mr Musa said.
‘A total of six suicide bombers detonated themselves… killing scores of people while some people were also wounded. A soldier also died,’ the Nigerian army said in a statement without specifying the sex of the bombers.
The army said a jeep full of improvised explosive devices was recovered by troops, adding there was an ongoing search ‘for any bombs that might have been hidden or left unexploded in the area.’
Musa said the militants looted shops and torched ‘almost half the village’ before eventually being repelled after the military sent in reinforcements.
Danlami Ajaokuta, a civilian vigilante helping the military battle Boko Haram, who also witnessed the attack, spoke of heavy casualties.
‘The main concern now is to evacuate and attend to the injured and later recover the dead bodies now lying in the village,’ he said, adding that more than 100 injured had been taken to hospital.
Boko Haram, which is fighting to establish a hardline Islamic state in northeast Nigeria and has sworn allegiance to the Islamic State group, has intensified its campaign of violence since President Muhammadu Buhari came to power on May 29.
The Zabarmari attack followed a string of attacks across restive Borno state since Wednesday that have been blamed on the jihadists.
Earlier this week, militants gunned down worshippers at evening Ramadan prayers, shot women in their homes and dragged men and boys from their beds to kill them in the dead of night.
A young female suicide bomber also killed 12 worshippers when she blew herself up in a mosque.
Buhari condemned the attacks as ‘inhuman and barbaric’ and again vowed to end the Islamists’ six-year-old insurgency which has killed at least 15,000 people and displaced 1.5 million others.
Buhari’s spokesman Femi Adesina said Saturday the president would keep his pledge to defeat the Islamists but added that the government did not rule out talks with the insurgents.
‘If Boko Haram opts for negotiation, the government will not be averse to it,’ Adesina said a statement.
‘Government will, however, not be negotiating from a position of weakness, but that of strength,’ he said.