21 December 2015•Update: 21 December 2015
By Olarewaju Kola
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria
At least nine people were killed and 24 others were injured when three suspected suicide bombers targeted a government-backed youth vigilante group in northeast Nigeria’s Borno state Sunday night, Nigerian army said Monday.
The incident took place in the state’s Beneshiek town.
Army Spokesman Colonel Sani Usman claimed in a statement that the suspected bombers were aged between 10 and 15, who allegedly detonated their improvised explosive devices when the Civilian Joint Task Force in the area spotted them during a screening process.
"While the civilian JTF was in the process of screening the suspect following the necessary drills and precautions, the carrier detonated the IED [improvised explosive device] that led to the deaths of nine people, while 24 others sustained various degrees of injuries," Usman said, adding that the other two alleged bombers detonated their explosives minutes later, but their impact was not as huge as the first one.
According to a nursing officer at the Borno State Specialists Hospital, the death toll was as high as 32 in the incident. "More people were brought in this morning and now receiving treatment," the medical source said.
The Nigerian military earlier said that it killed 11 Boko Haram militants, including an unnamed commander in the southern part of Borno state, in a push to meet its December deadline given to it by Nigerian President Mohammadu Buhari to end the insurgency in the troubled region of the oil-rich African nation.
