Abuja: In yet another incident in violence-prone Nigeria, at least 16 people were killed and dozens were injured after a bomb exploded in a roadside market in the Borno state, leading to a 24-hour curfew, the second in recent weeks. The attack happened at around 8 pm (local time) on Wednesday in a teashop near the state capital of Maiduguri, according to police and local media.
Police said the improvised explosive device was planted in the cafe. The police said 16 people were killed but did not give a definitive number of other victims who they said were “critically injured” and undergoing treatment in hospitals around the state. The state emergency management agency said about 24 people were seriously injured.
Although no one claimed responsibility for the attack, analysts and some local officials suspected the Islamic militant group Boko Haram, which has since 2009 waged an insurgency in Nigeria and neighbouring countries in the Lake Chad region. “This latest bomb explosion targeting civilians is a stark reminder of the continued threat posed by Boko Haram, especially as it is coming after a triple suicide attack” in Gwoza in the southern part of the state, said Malik Samuel, a researcher on the Lake Chad conflict at the Institute for Security Studies.
The insurgency by Boko Haram and its splinter group the Islamic State West Africa Province has created a humanitarian disaster in Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger and Chad, with more than 35,000 people killed and 2.6 million others displaced over the last 15 years. The groups want to install an Islamic state across the four countries but mainly in Nigeria, the major oil-producing nation in West Africa.
Police fire gunshots, tear gas after protests
Meanwhile, young people in the state capital Maiduguri poured onto the streets to join the nationwide protests against Nigeria's worsening cost-of-living crisis soon after the bombing incident, and the police fired gunshots and teargas to disperse them. At least two people were reported killed.
The deaths occurred in northern Niger state where protesters clashed with security forces after blocking a major road. Police opened fire in two other states as thousands demanded an end to the spiralling economic crisis that has rendered the people of Africa's top oil producer among the poorest in the world.
Live broadcasts from the protests showed some protesters looting warehouses and damaging public property. Three governors declared curfews in their states, saying that thugs had hijacked the protests. However, rights groups and activists denounced the violence and said police used excessive force.
The rallies kicked off with banners, bells and Nigeria's green-and-white flag as protesters chanted songs and listed their demands, including the reinstatement of gas and electricity subsidies. Their removal as part of the government's reform efforts to grow the economy has had a knock-on effect on the price of just about everything else.
Suicide blasts in Nigeria
The bomb attack on Wednesday came after at least 18 people were killed as 48 others sustained injuries in three blasts in the same state in June, carried out by suspected female suicide bombers. The first blast occurred around during a wedding ceremony, followed by another explosion at General Hospital Gwoza and a third blast at a funeral.
In the past, Boko Haram has used women and girls in suicide bombings, prompting suspicions that some from the many thousands that they have kidnapped over the years. The resurgence of suicide bombings in Borno raises significant concerns about the security situation in the region.
Gwoza is located a few kilometres from Chibok, in southern Borno, where 276 schoolgirls were abducted in 2014. Nearly 100 of the girls are still in captivity. Since then, at least 1,500 students have been kidnapped across the country as armed groups increasingly find the practice a lucrative way to fund their criminal activities and take control of villages.
This attack came a month after armed men shot dead at least 40 villagers in northcentral Plateau's Wase district. In December, assailants killed at least 140 residents during an attack that targeted more than a dozen communities over two days.
(with AP inputs)
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