Three persons, including an Air Force personnel, have reportedly died in an attempted suicide attack in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, on Tuesday night.
The attack was confirmed by the Deputy Director, Army Public Relations, 7 Division Maiduguri, Col. Tukur Gusau, to journalists on the telephone on Wednesday, but he did not specify if militants were among the casualties.
Gusau however called on the members of the public to be extra-vigilant, and appealed to them to support the military in its efforts to end the insurgency.
A commander of the youth vigilance group in Gomari Airport ward, Habuya Mahmud, told Punch that the bomber launched the attack at a checkpoint after the Maiduguri airport junction, along the Kano-Jos road, adding that the two male suicide bombers approached the checkpoint shortly before 10pm.
According to Mahmud, who said he witnessed the attack and equally participated in the rescue efforts, the attackers approached the checkpoint from an opposite direction and the guard commander, an Air Force sergeant, flagged them down.
“He told them to move closer with raised arms; but as they got close enough to him, they detonated the explosives strapped on them, which resulted in their death and the Air Force personnel,” he said.
He also disclosed that a woman, who was passing through the area at the time of the attack was injured and was rushed to the Umaru Shehu Hospital at Bulumkuttu.
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