09:12:00
BARELY three days after the Molai General Hospital attacks in Borno State, two suspected Boko Haram suicide bombers attacked the same hospital yesterday, detonating Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) at the gate and car park, killing seven persons, including the terrorists, and injuring six others.
Also, at Foron village in Barkin Ladi council of Plateau State, a clash between Fulani and Berom left four persons dead and three soldiers reportedly injured.
Acting National Chairman of Berom Youth Moulders (BYM), Samson Tsok, said that some gunmen suspected to be Fulani attacked Foron on Tuesday night, killing two boys while four people were still missing.
“Early this morning (yesterday), some soldiers of the Special Task Force (STF) stormed the village without notice. We were embarrassed and felt under siege as they ransacked our village. We did not even know what they were searching for,” he said.
“They came in company of some Fulani, who were pointing at the houses to be raided. At the end of the exercise, they did not tell us if they found anything.”
However, Fulani leader in Barkin Ladi council, Muhammed Adams, said that some armed men suspected to be Berom youths killed eight of their cows being grazed by some boys on Tuesday evening. According to him, “the herdsmen grazing the cows were also killed, we have found one body but the other four are still missing.”
When contacted, Spokesman of the STF Operation Safe Haven, Capt. Ikedichi Iweha, said they did not go to the village for nothing, rather: “On Tuesday evening, about 400 cows were rustled in Foron. We followed up the report and recovered the cows.
“Apart from the cows rustled, eight cows were shot, six of which died, while the other two were injured. In addition, the herdsmen grazing the cows could not be found. So, early yesterday, we went to the village to search for the missing herdsmen and found one body. We are still searching for others.”
He added: “While our men were conducting the search, some Berom youths regrouped and attacked our men, three of whom are on a peace keeping mission. Two of them are in critical condition, but the other is stable.
“Our frustration as soldiers on national assignment is that the people we are protecting keep attacking the soldiers? That has been the habit of the people of this local government.”
The twin blasts rocked the entire community, including the leprosy community and its workers. The bombers were suspected to have sneaked into Maiduguri from the northern flank of Sambisa forest yesterday morning.
Terrorists had last weekend attacked the same hospital, killing five people. Yesterday’s attacks occurred while the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, was on a sympathy visit to victims, including soldiers wounded during military operations in the Sambisa Forest.
An eyewitness told The Guardian yesterday in Maiduguri that the first suspect detonated the explosive at the main gate, before the other on a bicycle blew himself up at the rear car park. The first explosion injured nine people, while the rear blast did not cause much casualties, as there were not many people there.
Four of the injured died on reaching the State Specialist Hospital, Maiduguri, where an attendant at the Emergency and Accident Unit disclosed that the victims died from excessive loss of blood. Confirming the incident, the Borno State Police Command said the remains of the bombers and other victims had been evacuated by noon.
Iweha further warned against arbitrary attacks on peacekeeping personnel, stating: “We want these attacks on soldiers to stop henceforth so that it does not get to a point where STF will react against its attackers. STF has restrained itself from responding to those attacks, but we plead that such be stopped forthwith.”
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