Female suicide bomber kills five in Potiskum

A female suicide bomber on Sunday attacked the Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) market in Potiskum, Yobe State, leaving five people dead and 46 others injured.

A mobile phone seller at the market, Adamu Yahaya, told one of our correspondents on the telephone that a female suicide bomber hit the entrance to the GSM market, located in the heart of Potiskum town, around 1.15 pm.

He said the attack resulted in her death and four other persons with many left severed injured.

He said, “We saw the girl and we became suspicious of her movement and when one of us tried to whisk her away, the bomb went off killing both of them and three others while several others sustained injuries. Those injured have been taken to the General Hospital, Potiskum.”

A medical worker told one of our correspondents on the telephone that five corpses from the attack were deposited at the morgue of the hospital and 46 persons that were injured were brought in for treatment.

When the worker, who is a medical doctor, spoke to one of our correspondents at about 3pm on Sunday, he said, “Some of those injured have minor injuries but some may need to be referred to a bigger hospital outside the state as their injuries were serious.”

The source did not rule out a rise in the death figure, insisting that some of the injured persons were hanging to life.

“I pray that they will be able to make it as their situation is very serious,” he said.

The Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Toyin Gbadegesin, who confirmed the incident on the telephone to journalists, said he had yet to be furnished with details of the blast.

He, however, promised to make the number of casualties known to the press immediately it was made available to him.

Gbadegesin said, “Yes, I can confirm to you that there is a blast at the Kasuwan Jagwal market (GSM market) in Potiskum where it happened last month but how it happened and the casualty figure are not known.”

Suicide bombing has become rampant in Potiskum, the commercial town of Yobe State.

In a related development, the Emir of Mubi, Abubakar Isa Ahmadu, has called on citizens of the town, who were displaced by the activities of insurgents, to return home.

This, according to the Emir, was as a result of the restoration of security in his domain by military operatives. Ahmadu disclosed this in his palace while playing host to a Federal Government delegation, led by the Minister of Youths Development, Mr. Boni Haruna.

Meanwhile, the troops involved in the raging campaign against the Boko Haram insurgents in the North-East may have got the directive to get the leader of the sect, Abubakar Shekau, alive.

An intelligence source said that military leadership was keen on getting Shekau alive to solve the riddle of invisibility around his existence.

It was stated that the directive followed the increasing victories against the members of the deadly sect by the combined operations between the Air Force and he Army and the troops of the Multi National Joint Task Force.

It was stated that the new Shekau was within Nigeria and was trying desperately to escape being arrested.

Investigations revealed that the military high command was keen on getting the Boko Haram leader arrested to make him to face trial for acts committed against Nigerians.

Meanwhile, the Director of Defence Information, Maj. Gen. Chris Olukolade, has said in a statement on Sunday that troops involved in a cordon and search operation had discovered heaps of arms and ammunition abandoned by the insurgents.