Showing posts with label chibok. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chibok. Show all posts

13 dead in triple suicide attacks in Chibok town (Warning : Touching photos below)

13 dead in triple suicide attacks in Chibok town (Warning : Touching photos below)


At least 13 people were killed on Wednesday when three suicide bombers blew themselves up in the northeast Nigerian town of Chibok, where Boko Haram kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls.

The blasts happened at about midday (1100 GMT) as the remote town in Borno state was packed with traders from surrounding villages for the weekly market, Chibok elder Ayuba Chibok told AFP.
"Ten died on the spot and another one died on the way to hospital," said health worker Dazzban Buba, who volunteered to treat the injured at hospital.
"A woman and a child died as they were being admitted (to hospital), so now the death toll stands at 13. Thirty others were injured, 21 critically."
The blasts bore the hallmarks of Boko Haram, which has repeatedly hit "soft" civilian targets such as markets, mosques and bus stations as well as military and civilian vigilante checkpoints.
Chibok came to prominence in April 2014 when Islamist fighters stormed a boarding school and kidnapped 276 girls, causing global outrage.
Fifty-seven girls managed to escape in the immediate aftermath but 219 are still being held and have not been seen since they appeared in a Boko Haram video in May that year.
Chibok was briefly overrun by the Islamic State group-allied rebels in November 2014 but recaptured by the military after several days.
Ayuba Chibok and Buba both said Wednesday's blasts were suicide attacks and had prompted terrified residents to lock themselves inside their homes or flee in fear of repeat attacks.
Buba said the first explosion, at a checkpoint where people coming into the town were being searched, was thought to have been carried out by a young boy.
But identifying the attacker's age was difficult, as only his legs were recovered.
The second, at the market, and a third nearby were carried out by women, he added.
Buba said he rushed to help his brother who was injured in the first blast in the Bamzir Road area of the town.
The second blast happened shortly afterwards, fitting a pattern of Boko Haram suicide attacks with multiple bombers setting off their devices almost simultaneously.
But Buba said it was still unclear whether the third bomber deliberately detonated her explosives or whether the device was triggered when troops opened fire as he fled.
The 30 injured were mostly suffering from burns and fractures, and that nine had been discharged, he added.
President Muhammadu Buhari, in Kenya on a three-day state visit, made no direct mention of the Chibok attack at a memorial service to commemorate Kenyan soldiers killed by Shebab militants.
But he told the congregation: "Terrorists should not have a place in our communities, villages, towns, cities and countries.
"We must all rise against the culture of intolerance, hatred and extremist ideologies, which drive terrorism."
Recent weeks have seen a lull in Boko Haram attacks, with only three recorded in Nigeria this month but those that have occurred underline the difficulty in protecting hard-to-reach rural areas.
The insurgents raided a village in Yobe state on Sunday, killing one man, while on January 11, another raid in the Adamawa state town of Madagali left seven dead.
Seven people were killed in a raid and suicide bomb attack in Izgeki village on January 5. Gunmen also looted food and burnt a large part of Nchiha village near Chibok earlier the same day.
On December 6, there was a similar attack in Takulashi village, also near Chibok, which again saw fighters raid food and steal more than 200 cattle.
Buhari on December 24 declared the rebels were "technically" defeated but at least 66 people were then killed in raids and suicide bombings in the days following.
According to an AFP tally, more than 1,650 people have been killed since Buhari came to power in May last year, vowing to crush the insurgency, which has left at least 17,000 dead since 2009.

On Monday, 32 people were killed when at least three suicide bombers blew themselves up at a market in Bodo village in northern Cameroon.

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Soldier did not detain Chibok parents. Some Parents are "FAKE" ----- Army Officer

Soldier did not detain Chibok parents. Some Parents are "FAKE" ----- Army Officer



Sixty-five parents of abducted Chibok girls were not detained by the Nigerian military as claimed by the BringBackOurGirls group, according to the commanding officer in the town.

Speaking first on Tuesday night and later on Wednesday morning, Hassan Chibok, who said he didn’t mind being named because he was “not afraid of anybody, maintained that the military only told the parents to obtain a pass from the Chibok local government chairman, so that soldiers could escort them out of the dangerous zone they were planning to travel through.

 “You know the situation in Chibok. For weeks now, we have been experiencing attacks around Chibok general area. And there is a report, intelligence report that Boko Haram members were planning to lay ambush for the parents when travelling to Abuja,” he said. 

“So the military here told them that if they were planning to go to anywhere, they should get authority letter from the local government council. That way, the army is aware of their movement, and will then give them adequate security to move them out of the danger zone. “So when they made the plan of moving, the army here asked them if the local government was aware of their movement? They said no. So they were told to get all the necessary arrangement before they could leave. 

“There have been series of ambushing on the roads, so moving in convoy is very dangerous here. In fact, moving in convoy here is only permitted with military escort so that there would be protection of life and property. “Now, disregarding the information of the military, they now went through another part, the road that is blocked and is not for people to follow again. We told them to go back to your local government and bring authority so that they could be escorted out of their area. 

That’s really what happened. Nobody detained anybody; nobody harassed anybody; they only asked them to go back to chibok.” Asked if the parents indeed went back to Chibok or they stayed back with the military, he said: “Yes, they are in Chibok. And, in case you don’t know, all these Chibok parents, there are a lot of things happening that you people who are not here in Borno do not know.

“There are fake parents, people claiming that their kids were among those kidnapped, which is not true. These people are only here because of their personal gains.” Asked how long it would take the parents to get the local government clearance, he said: “Before they made the move, it is just for them to just call the chairman and tell the chairman, ‘this is our plan, we are trying to move to Abuja or Maiduguri; we need a letter from you so that the military here will escort us out of the danger area’. 

“You know, now we are looking for the girls and if anything happens to the parents, it is another problem; and this is what the military is trying to avoid.” He expressed anger with those trying to discredit efforts of the military to properly secure the area, and urged the media to work more with grassroots sources rather than on people in Abuja who themselves do not have the correct information.

He confirmed, on Wednesday, that the parents were already on their way to Abuja, and were escorted past Maiduguri and past Yola, after securing the said clearance. 

Source: The Cable.
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