Boko Haram hits Maiduguri hospital, ‘kills 3’

Two suicide bombers killed at least three people and injured 16 others at the general hospital in Maiduguri, capital of Borno state, on Saturday.

Witnesses told Reuters that two women tried to get into the hospital but were stopped by security guards at the gate and blew themselves up.

“We evacuated the charred bodies of the two security guards, another civilian and the two bombers,” said Auwal Mohammed, a member of the community in Molai, where the hospital is situated.

A source at the mortuary of the state hospital in Maiduguri confirmed that three corpses had been deposited there after the blast.

Another hospital source said 16 people injured in the attack had been brought in.

Meanwhile, a security source told TheCable that two suicide bombers struck at the sector 7 area of the city around 6:30 pm, still on Saturday.

The source, who could not provide information about the attack in the hospital, said apart from the bombers, no other casualty was recorded in the second attack to hit Maiduguri in a day.

“It was only the suicide bombers that were killed in the attack, which happened very close to NNPC at sector 7, Damboa road, here in Maiduguri,” he said.

“The attack happened around 6:30pm when people were preparing to break their fast but luckily no innocent person got involved.”

The source added that that there is currently intense surveillance around most markets in the town.

He explained that this was based on intelligence report that the Boko Haram sect was planning more attacks.

Since May 29 when President Muhammadu Buhari directed that the military command centre should relocate to the ancient city, Maiduguri has come under repeated attacks that have led to the deaths of about 100 people.

Buhari has held talks with presidents of neighbouring countries to set up a joint force to tackle insurgency and he is billed to visit Cameroon later this month to discuss deeper collaboration.

Though the Nigerian government has been able to stop the militants from taking control of territories in different parts of the northeast, efforts to restore normalcy to the ravaged communities in particularly Borno, Adamawa and Yobe have not achieved the desired result, as the group continues to launch suicide attacks.