From Molly Kilete, Abuja and Timothy Olanrewaju, Maiduguri
Nine persons were killed in a vehicle explosion, yesterday, in Maiduguri.
Spokesman of the Borno Police Command, Mr. Victor Isuku, a deputy superintendent of Police, confirmed the incident.
and said it happened at about 10:30am, near a military checkpoint along Gubio Road in the metropolis.
“There was an explosion along Gubio, just before the military checkpoint. Preliminary report said a pick-up van, with nine persons on board, emerged from a bush path to join the road to Gubio when it exploded, killing all the nine persons,” Isuku said.
Yesterday’s blast was the fifth, in a series of recent bomb attacks within and around Maiduguri in the last three weeks.
But, the Army said only eight insugents died when soldiers foiled yet another attempt on Gubio.
Acting Director of Army/Public Relations, Col. Sani Usman, who made this known in a statement issued in Abuja, said the terrorists, numbering about eight, came in a Bedford pick up vehicle primed with Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and suicide vests and tried to force their way through a military checkpoint.
He said they were, however, prevented by men of Operation Lafiya Dole from driving through the checkpoint, who insisted that the vehicle be thoroughly searched.
“The suicide bombers refused and blew up themselves by detonating one of the suicide vests killing all the eight terrorists on board.”
Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has condemned the bomb blasts in Maiduguri and the ambush of soldiers in Damboa, also in Borno, by insurgents last Saturday and Sunday.
The party described the action as barbaric. National Publicity Secretary, Prince Dayo Adeyeye said the party commended the military for the commitment to security of lives and property in the North East, inspite of threat to the lives of the officers and men fighting insurgency in the area.