Bomb explosion kills at least 19 in Borno

A bomb explosion has reportedly led to the death of no fewer than 19 people at a local joint in Kawuri village, Konduga Local government Area (LGA) of Borno State.

According to reports, the Improvised Explosive Device(IED) was suspected to have been planted by Boko Haram insurgents on Wednesday night.

Daily Trust, which quoted an unnamed government official from Kawuri village, said the bomb went off around 8:05 pm at a local tea joint where the villagers gathered for a night chat, adding that dozens of people also suffered various injuries.

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“Nobody can say exactly how it happened, but we suspected that the bomb was planted, not a suicide attack,” the government official was quoted as saying.

“We saw corpses of 19 people with unspecified number of civilians injured. The injured were evacuated to an undisclosed hospital in Maiduguri for treatment.”

Kawuri village is located around 50 kilometres from Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State and the bomb blast occurred only 24 hours after an Accountant working with the Local Education Authority in Damboa LGA, Shettima Mustapha, was killed when his vehicle ran into an IED along the Maiduguri-Damboa-Biu highway.

The bomb explosion on the eve of the nationwide protest occurred just three days after insurgents had also attacked a police station at Jakana town in the same Konduga LGA.

A policeman and one other woman were said to have lost their lives in the previous attack while the hoodlums set two patrol vans ablaze.