Two suicide bombers believed to be Boko Haram terrorists hit Potiskum, the second largest city in Yobe State, killing 11 people and wounding eight others on Monday.
Idris Abdul, an eyewitness reveled that one of the bombers first attacked a vigilante group office at the Dorowa area of the town with an Improvised Explosive Device.
He said the terrorist and seven other people died on the spot. A member of the youth vigilante group, Ibrahim Haruna, who also spoke on the attack, said, ‘‘A young man came to our office with a laptop bag but we insisted that anybody that wanted to enter must be searched. But as he pretended to be opening his bag, he detonated an explosive.”
He disclosed that one of those killed was the commander of the vigilante group, adding that while people were trying to overcome the shock occasioned by the vigilante office attack, the second suicide bomber struck in a pub.
Haruna added that, “When everyone was still in shock over the attack in our office, another explosion happened five minutes after at a ‘drink joint’ in the same neighbourhood.” Three persons, including the bomber, were killed in that explosion.
Haruna said the bomber walked into the pub and requested a drink before detonating the explosive device strapped to his body. The dead and the injured were taken to the Accident and Emergency Unit of the General Hospital, Potiskum.
Monday’s attack came just a day after Boko Haram militants attacked Babangida, the headquarters of the Tarmuwa Local Government Area of Yobe State. On the same Monday, Boko Haram insurgents killed 23 people in Chad, one of the countries teaming up with Nigeria under a Multinational Joint Task Force, to defeat the militant Islamist sect.
“Boko Haram is making a mistake by targeting Chad,” Hassan Bakare Communications Minister said. “These lawless terrorists will be chased out and neutralised wherever they are,” he vowed.
Meanwhile, the United States has said it will work with Muhammadu Buhari to stop the activities of Boko Haram in Nigeria and its neighbouring countries.
Linda Thomas Greenfield, the US Assistant Secretary, Bureau of African Affairs, made the promise during a telephonic press briefing at the 25th African Union Summit in South Africa.
“Fighting terrorism is not easy. Since 2001, we have been fighting terrorism and we will continue to fight terrorists. Fighting in Africa requires support of the entire region,” she said.
Thomas-Greenfield added that the Boko Haram insurgency was not a Nigerian problem alone. Because of this, she said, Washington was working closely with Nigeria’s neighbours to curtail the activities of the terrorist group.
She said the US was not only committing $5m to Nigeria’s efforts at defeating Boko Haram, it had been giving equipment and technical assistance to the Federal Government.
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