Six dead, 11 injured in Maiduguri park explosion

The National Emergency and Management Agency has said that six people were killed by an explosion that occurred at a crowded market in Maiduguri Friday morning.

The attack occurred at a parking area in the market.

The agency said on its twitter page that 11 others were wounded in the blast.

But a police officer who works in the Explosives Ordnance Department said he counted eight bodies at the scene of the blast near Gamboru market in Maiduguri. 

He said the bomber, a male, arrived at the scene carrying a female passenger on  a tricycle laden with explosives.

“From the way his body was destroyed it showed that he was actually the suicide bomber and not the woman,” the police officer, who did not want to be named, told journalists. 

A source the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital confirmed to journalists they received five bodies and seven injured persons.

A member of the Civilian-JTF, who identified himself as Kabiru, told PREMIUM TIMES  on the phone that he helped in evacuating 10 corpses including that of the suicide bomber. 

“The corpses are about 10 in number that I took part in evacuating today; some are known and their relatives were contemplating taking them home for burial since they were obviously dead, some were taken to the mortuary,” he said.

Gamboru market usually records a large turnout of traders and farmers.

An official statement from the police was still expected. 

The explosion occurred at about 6. 30 a. m.

Residents said a thunderous blast, which resonated all over Maiduguri, occurred near the entrance of Gamboru Market where operatives of commercial tricycles park to pick passengers.

So far, no one has claimed responsibility for the bombing.

But security operatives believe it has the imprint of the extremist Boko Haram sect.