Explosion Rocks Biu Again, Many Feared Dead

There was multiple bomb explosions in Biu, the biggest town in south of the troubled Borno State on Tuesday, a resident of the town, Ibrahim Isah, said on the telephone.

Though details of the explosions remain sketchy as the extent of damages and number of casualty could not be ascertained on Tuesday afternoon, Isah said the incident occurred at about noon.

He insisted that it was massive and might have led to huge loss of lives.

A member of youth vigilante, who spoke on the condition of anonymity on the telephone to our correspondent, said the incident happened at a neighbourhood known as Yamarkumi along Maiduguri Road.

“There were three explosions in Yamarkumi here in Biu town. Many people have been affected; the casualty figure from what we are seeing now have surpassed that of the market suicide bombing that occurred on Thursday. Ambulances are rushing in and out for now. We will give you details later, “another health worker told our correspondent.

However, one medical source at the General Hospital, Biu told AFP that 36 people were killed while 20 were injured in the blast.

Effort to get a confirmation of the incident from the Police and military authorities failed. But a security source at the 7th Division of the Nigerian Army, Maiduguri, an Army captain, whose name could not be published as he was not authorised to speak to the press, said the matter had been reported and the military operatives were already embarking on a full scale action in the area.

Meanwhile, the Boko Haram insurgents have burnt down the palace of the Emir of Askira in Askira-Uba Local Government Area of Borno State, the spokesman for the youth vigilante group, Jubrin Gunda, said on Tuesday.

Speaking to our correspondent on the telephone from Maiduguri, the state capital, Gunda said the palace was attacked by the insurgents on Sunday night.

He said during the Sunday’s attack the palace was razed by the sect’s fighters.

He lamented that after beating a retreat on Sunday, the insurgents came back to Askira on Monday morning to continue their reign of terror as they burnt down some other houses and killed many residents of the town.

He said, “As of now, I cannot tell you the number of people killed but all I can say is that the palace of the emir was razed on Sunday by the insurgents at night, they equally returned to burn more houses in the town on Monday morning.”

“At the moment, they are not in the town as they have fled back into the bushes and as such you cannot say the town was captured.”