A female assailant and another suicide bomber on Tuesday killed an estimated 50 people, witnesses has said, the successive blasts occurred in late morning, peak hours for shoppers frequenting what is called the Monday Market in Maiduguri, said Mustapha Musa, a trader who witnessed the attacks. Despite the market’s name, it is open all days of the week.
The first blast came from a woman, said Mr. Musa and other witnesses. Her body lay on the ground, most of it burned except her wig. The second—a far larger blast—came shortly after from another militant standing nearby, said Mr. Musa and others in the crowd.
Mr. Musa identified the second bomber as a man and estimated as many as 50 people died in the twin blasts. A crowd pointed to what they said was his body, which was badly burned and headless.
Meanwhile, a police spokesman said the second blast came from a woman, not a man, and gave a lower death toll of at least 20.
Boko Haram’s attacks have targeted people who disagree with their aim to create an Islamic caliphate in Nigeria. On Monday, the group killed 55 people in Damask, a town that had declared itself opposed to the sect, fleeing residents said.
Boko Haram has also staged a series of attacks on markets in Maiduguri, a city whose one million people have broadly rejected the fundamentalist group. Since July, Boko Haram has sent female suicide bombers into crowded cities, further fraying nerves and provoking confrontations with the police and army.
The use of female suicide bombers has led to Nigerian soldiers lashing out at women in Islamic garb, playing into Boko Haram’s argument that the country’s secular army is fighting Islam, said Jacob Zenn, an Africa analyst at the Jamestown Foundation research institution in Washington.
“It makes women uncomfortable around the police and helps break the trust,” he said.
Nigeria’s military spokesman, Chris Olukolade, declined to comment beyond a brief statement when reached by phone.
“We will keep up the fight against insurgents and continue to improve on our surveillance,” he said.
A half hour after the explosion, a group of vigilantes began demonstrating in the market, saying they had lost faith in their army, which has surrendered a large stretch of northeastern Nigeria to Boko Haram. Roughly 100 of them marched through the charred marketplace brandishing swords, machetes, homemade muskets and sticks.
They demanded the government give them weapons. And they insisted Nigeria’s parliament allow a state of emergency in the northeast to expire. That state of emergency gives soldiers the right to freely detain people and search their homes, but local vigilantes say it had done nothing to increase their security, as brutal attacks with mass casualties happen almost daily.
“We don’t need a state of emergency!” said Salei Mohammed, who introduced himself as the vigilante commander for the area.
A crowd of vigilantes behind him shouted in agreement: “We don’t need that! We don’t need that!” several said, shaking their homemade weapons.
Shortly before 1 p.m., police arrived and ordered them to leave.
Parliament is set to vote on the state of emergency this week. On Thursday, a scheduled vote was postponed after police fired tear gas into the House of Representatives over a dispute as to who should act as speaker of the house.
The first blast came from a woman, said Mr. Musa and other witnesses. Her body lay on the ground, most of it burned except her wig. The second—a far larger blast—came shortly after from another militant standing nearby, said Mr. Musa and others in the crowd.
Mr. Musa identified the second bomber as a man and estimated as many as 50 people died in the twin blasts. A crowd pointed to what they said was his body, which was badly burned and headless.
Meanwhile, a police spokesman said the second blast came from a woman, not a man, and gave a lower death toll of at least 20.
Boko Haram’s attacks have targeted people who disagree with their aim to create an Islamic caliphate in Nigeria. On Monday, the group killed 55 people in Damask, a town that had declared itself opposed to the sect, fleeing residents said.
Boko Haram has also staged a series of attacks on markets in Maiduguri, a city whose one million people have broadly rejected the fundamentalist group. Since July, Boko Haram has sent female suicide bombers into crowded cities, further fraying nerves and provoking confrontations with the police and army.
The use of female suicide bombers has led to Nigerian soldiers lashing out at women in Islamic garb, playing into Boko Haram’s argument that the country’s secular army is fighting Islam, said Jacob Zenn, an Africa analyst at the Jamestown Foundation research institution in Washington.
“It makes women uncomfortable around the police and helps break the trust,” he said.
Nigeria’s military spokesman, Chris Olukolade, declined to comment beyond a brief statement when reached by phone.
“We will keep up the fight against insurgents and continue to improve on our surveillance,” he said.
A half hour after the explosion, a group of vigilantes began demonstrating in the market, saying they had lost faith in their army, which has surrendered a large stretch of northeastern Nigeria to Boko Haram. Roughly 100 of them marched through the charred marketplace brandishing swords, machetes, homemade muskets and sticks.
They demanded the government give them weapons. And they insisted Nigeria’s parliament allow a state of emergency in the northeast to expire. That state of emergency gives soldiers the right to freely detain people and search their homes, but local vigilantes say it had done nothing to increase their security, as brutal attacks with mass casualties happen almost daily.
“We don’t need a state of emergency!” said Salei Mohammed, who introduced himself as the vigilante commander for the area.
A crowd of vigilantes behind him shouted in agreement: “We don’t need that! We don’t need that!” several said, shaking their homemade weapons.
Shortly before 1 p.m., police arrived and ordered them to leave.
Parliament is set to vote on the state of emergency this week. On Thursday, a scheduled vote was postponed after police fired tear gas into the House of Representatives over a dispute as to who should act as speaker of the house.
Source: Agence France.
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