Director, Defence Information, Maj. Gen. Chris Olukolade
An Improvised Explosive Device believed
to have been planted by suspected members of Boko Haram on Sunday
exploded at the Gamboru Market in Maiduguri, Borno State.
No death was recorded but four persons
were critically injured in the incident which occurred barely 24 hours
after 26 persons were reportedly killed when the sect members bombed a
Monday market in the city.
The sect had on Friday night attempted
to invade the troubled state capital but was repelled by the military.
It was gathered that 16 people lost their lives to the bid.
A
member of the youth vigilante group in the town, Abba Modu, told our
correspondent on the telephone on Sunday that the 1.30pm attack on
Gamboru Market caused many residents to flee the streets.
“We know that the Boko Haram people hid
the explosive in the market to kill traders and their customers again.
But we thank Allah that nobody died. Four people, who were seriously
wounded have been taken to the hospital by security agents,” he said.
Just as Modu spoke, the Chairman of Fika
Local Government Area of Yobe State, Baba Abare, told journalists
that Boko Haram insurgents had on Saturday attacked Fika and Ngalda
in the state.
Abare said the insurgents, on arrival in
the two communities, shot sporadically to scare people away so as to
have ample opportunity to loot.
He added that their major targets were shops from where they stole foodstuffs and beverages.
Fika is 150 kilometres west of Damaturu, the Yobe state capital and shares common border with Gombe State .
It was gathered from a resident ,
Ibrahim Mohammed, that the insurgents first launched their attack on
Ngalda before moving to Fika where they torched the local government
area secretariat, a magistrate court and the Divisional Police
station.
A top police source, who spoke on the
condition of anonymity, said the insurgents arrived the two towns in
two Toyota Hilux vans which they used to flee with their loot.
When contacted, the Yobe Police
Commissioner, Markus Danladi, said the Joint Task Force was the only
body authorised to speak on such matter.
Nigeria, Egypt to partner in intelligence sharing, training
Meanwhile, the Nigerian and Egyptian
militaries are to collaborate on intelligence-sharing and training to
combat the threats by Boko Haram and Islamic State of Iraq and Syria to
destabilise the two countries.
The Egyptian Foreign Affairs Minister,
Sameh Shoukry, told journalists in Abuja on Saturday that President
Muhammadu Buhari would soon visit Cairo for talks on military and
bilateral relations between Egypt and Nigeria.
According to him, Nigerian and Egyptian
militaries would work together to degrade the capabilities of the two
terrorist organisations and end the security crises in the North and
West Africa.
Shoukry,who observed that Boko Haram
and ISIS had the same objectives of overthrowing the governments in
Nigeria and Egypt, stressed that it would take a robust partnership
between the two countries to exterminate the terrorist groups.
He explained that the Egyptian Army had
been tackling the ISIS terrorists with precision to reduce collateral
damage,stressing that the fight against terrorists in Africa must be
comprehensive and total.
The minister said, “Egypt and Nigeria
are facing terrorism and there is need to cooperate to deal with the
challenge and other conflicts. Egypt looks forward to increasing
relations with Nigeria Army in the areas of intelligence cooperation and
training. We have recorded considerable victory against ISIS and the
operations are undertaken with precision to avoid collateral damages,
ISIS power is degraded.”
Also in Abuja on Sunday, the Republic of
South Sudan said it needed Nigeria to train its security
personnel, many of whom were former rebels conscripted into the security
agencies.
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