Michael Olugbode in Maiduguri
Two female suicide bombers were prevented from wreaking havoc on Maiduguri, the Borno State capital tuesday morning.
The suicide bombers believed to be in their teens, had planned to detonate the explosive devices strapped on them at a long queue on vehicles waiting to buy fuel from an NNPC Mega station.
What could have been a major conflagration was adverted as there were several hundreds of vehicle on queue during the planned attack.
Speaking on the incident, the Borno State Commandant of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Ibrahim Abdullahi, told journalists that the two female suicide bombers, who tried to ram into motorists at the NNPC Mega Station along Damboa Road, Maiduguri were intercepted by his men.
He said: “Our personnel at the NNPC station intercepted two female suicide bombers, who were targeting motorists on the long queue at the NNPC mega petrol station at about 6.45 a.m.
“One of the bombers got scared and threw her bomb and was instantly arrested, while the other one started running after people with her explosive but luckily, she was shot on the leg by our personnel after he chased her to a safe place.”
He added that: “We have deployed our Anti-bomb Squad to the area.” He, however, warned that few insurgents remaining were looking for soft targets where they could cause havoc and appealed to all residents in the state to be on alert and vigilant
Also speaking on the incident, the spokesman of the state police command, Victor Isuku, said one of the two suicide bombers was killed and the other arrested.
Isuku, in a message to THISDAY, said: “Today, February 7, 2017, at about 0700hrs, two female suicide bombers about 18 years old, were sighted behind Mega filling station in Molai area, while attempting to infiltrate Maiduguri town.
“They were intercepted by security personnel on duty. One was arrested and the other one was shot dead.” He added that: “EOD personnel were quickly drafted to the scene and rendered the area safe.”
