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| Africa Subsaharan |
| Fresh Boko Haram Attack Kills Several People in Maiduguri |
| 2014-03-03 |
[THISDAYLIVE] A twin-bomb kaboom, which reportedly killed several persons, Saturday sent troubled Maiduguri into panic. The kaboom happened at a densely populated part of the town, Ajilari-Bintu Sugar, at about 6 pm when a pickup van loaded with fire woods suddenly went kaboom!and burst into flames. This incident occured on the heels of the intensification of multi-pronged enquiries aimed at understanding the reasons behind the increase in successful attacks by members of the outlawed Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... sect against civilian populations by the Nigerian Military and security agencies. The residents of the area, who spoke to journalists on phone, said the pickup van was parked very close to the commercial area where people gathered to buy food for their dinner. The kaboom claimed many lives especially among the vendors of fried bean-cake, roasted and fried fish and barbecue, said an eyewitness. Among those killed were those that besieged the commercial area to buy their dinner and passersby. The eyewitness likened the effects of the twin kaboom to an earthquake and said that many people in the area still feared that another bomb may have been planted in the area. Another eyewitness account said that many residents had started fleeing the area out of fear. Youth volunteers, according to the witness, have also taken to the area to comb the surrounding for those likely to have planted the bomb. Expectedly, several residents of Maiduguri have become apprehensive, fearing that the city may have returned to the dark days of 2012 when there was hardly a single day without kaboom. Both police and military authorities could not be reached at the time of filing this report for comments. Meanwhile, ...back at the wrecked scow, a single surviver held tightly to the smashed prow... there is a general feeling of anger and dejection amongst the military hierarchy over what they described as a calculated sabotage by some moles within their ranks, and well-coordinated verbal attacks by both the civil populace, especially some prominent citizens to lower the morale of the soldiers. According to some top military sources, who confided in THISDAY, such attempts to dampen the morale of the military, "which is already having dangerous consequences", could backfire, warning that it could be a matter of time before North West or Abuja is attacked if the trend continues. "Do you know that what these people are doing is to tie the hands of the military?" one of the sources said. "Look at the other day, the Attorney-General of the Federation was threatening the military with Human rights violation, while at the same time the Governor of Borno State was castigating the same institution. "There is a dangerous effort to dampen the morale of the military, and if this ever happens it could be catastrophic." Another source, who spoke with THISDAY, warned: "As things stands, North West can implode anytime, and all it takes is an unfortunate attack in one or two areas in Abuja to set the whole country ablaze. So I feel those who are questioning the ability of the military don't know the consequences of their actions." Some military officers and commanders, it was confirmed, were being questioned in connection with the Yobe school massacre with a view to ascertaining the reason for intelligence failure. "I can tell you that people are seriously being questioned, interrogation is going on and acts of sabotage are also not ruled out," the source confirmed. THISDAY further gathered that the military authorities are conducting comprehensive investigation in all its formations in the North East, and particularly the commanders in charge of the conflict areas. However, some people are alive only because it's illegal to kill them... the Director of Defence Information (DDI), Major-Gen. Chris Olukolade, explained that questioning of military officers in the line of duty has always been a routine exercise and denied the existence of any Investigative Military Panel aimed at indicting any officer or soldier concerning the Yobe, Borno or Adamawa massacres. |
| Posted by:Fred |