A mob on Monday attacked officials of the Borno State Emergency Management Agency at the scene of a suicide bomb attack in Maiduguri, Borno State.
Head of the agency, Ahmed Satomi, said the blast happened at about 5:30 am in the London Ciki area of Maiduguri, which has been at the epicentre of Boko Haram violence since 2009.
“She killed eight people and injured 15 others. The mosque was being guarded by civilian JTF (joint task force militia) during prayers,” he told AFP.
“Unknown to them, the girl was being pursued from another part of town by residents who were suspicious of her movement at the time.
“When she approached the mosque, they demanded that she stop to be searched but she suddenly bolted into the mosque and set off her bombs.”
Three other female suicide bombers were located in Maiduguri at about the same time, said Satomi.
Two were killed in the Mammanti area as they tried to cross the ditch around the city perimeter while another set off her explosives in the suburb of Simari, he added.
Angry youths responded by attacking the emergency response team dispatched to evacuate corpses and render assistance to the blast victims, were said to be angered by recent spate of suicide bombings in Maiduguri.
Some of them chanted slogans against relief officials, saying, “leave, we do not need your assistance.”
The youths, armed with club and sticks, smashed one of SEMA vehicles and prevented the team from carrying out its mission.
It took the intervention of members of the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) to rescue the SEMA officials.
An official of the state emergency agency, who pleaded anonymity, confirmed the incident, but said only their vehicle was damaged.
This is the second time in a week that four female suicide bombers have sought to cause carnage in Maiduguri.
At least 19 people were killed and 23 others injured last Monday when four women set off their bombs in the Molai Kolemari area of the city.
