No fewer than 48 people were killed yesterday in various parts of the North on a day governors raised the alarm over the security situation.
Boko Haram suicide bombers hit Maiduguri, the Borno State capital with two blasts, killing 11 people, including five policemen.
Seventeen people died in Nasarawa State’s communal clash in which a monarch’s palace was burnt down.
Fulani herdsmen continued their onslaught on the Tiv communities in Benue, killing 20.
There was panic in Kaduna over a bomb scare.
The police detonated the explosive device kept in a polythene bag.
About 10 people died in two separate bomb blasts in Dalori, Konjuga Local Government Area of Borno State.
The dead included two suicide bombers.
An eye witness said five police men were on patrol when their vehicle was blown up by the suicide bombers when they were confronted on the highway around Dalori, about five kilometres from the University of Maiduguri.
According to eye witnesses, at the Dalori check point area of the road, another bomb exploded about five kilometres from Dalori. The suicide bombers were alleged to have thrown an improvised bomb into a commuter vehicle, killing three people inside the vehicle.
“It is the same vehicle that deliberately drove into the police vehicle, killing all five policemen inside the patrol vehicle. The Policemen had accosted the vehicle for normal stop and search which has been going on since the attack on Giwa Barracks by the insurgents but the suicide bombers drove their vehicle into them while simultaneously throwing an IDI into their vehicle.
“The police vehicle exploded instantly, killing them and destroying their patrol vehicle beyond recognition,” said the source.
The two suicide bombers equally died inside a golf vehicle burnt down completely at the check point
Soldiers opened the road and mounted a massive manhunt for the insurgents.
Many people were injured.
The charred remains of the Golf car and shredded police patrol vehicle were seen near the check point.
Nurses at the casuality wing of the University of Maiduguiri Teaching Hospital said the charred bodies of the five policemen were deposited at the morgue.
“We received the bodies of the five policemen while about 14 injured cases have been brought so far.
“We have been tending to the injured and I do not think there is any very critical case that would lead to death now,” said a hospital source.
Suspected Fulani herdsmen shot and killed 20 Tiv farmers in an early morning attack,in Agena, Mbtseda, Mbalom district ,Gwer Local Government Area.
According to the federal lawmaker, representing Gwer/Gwer West Federal Constituency, Mrs Christina Alaaga, the attackers stormed Agena village, a popular railway settlement in Mbatseda, Mbalom district, at about 6am.
“They opened fire on the houses and as people attempted to escape, they gunned them down. We counted 20 bodies. Many others sustained serious injuries and were taken to the hospital in Aliade and Makurdi”, she said.
Hon. Alaaga expressed shock that were brutally murdered.
Chairman of Gwer local government council, David Maor, said the bodies were taken to the Federal Medical Centre morgue.
Police Spokesman Daniel Ezeala said only seven people were killed adding that investigation had commenced.
The palace of the paramount ruler of Giza chiefdom in Keana local government area in Nasarawa state, Umaru Elegu Abu, was razed in the early hours of yesterday. More than 17 people were killed in the raid carried out by yet to be identified gunmen.
Police Spokesman Umar Ismaila who confirmed the incident said only five people died.
He said: “Armed Tiv militia attacked Giza town of Kadarko development area.
“On getting the report, a combined team of conventional police and Mobile Force led by the Kadarko DPO, Ikojo Sunday, mobilised to the scene and repelled the attack”
Information available to the police according to him indicated that “three inhabitants and two attackers were killed in the process”
He said normalcy had returned to the affected area.
One of the victims who craved anonymity said “the gunmen killed several people. As I speak to you, we have been able to recover nine bodies from the surrounding bushes while some are still been searched for. The ones so far discovered have been taken for burial”.
The police in Kaduna yesterday detonated a high calibre Improvised Explosive Device (IED), allegedly dropped at the ever-busy Sultan road/Kashim Ibrahim road junction by an unidentified motorcyclist. There was pandemonium in the area.
The junction is located a few metres away from Essence International School, one of the highbrow private schools in Kaduna .
Kaduna Police Spokesman, Aminu Lawan, said: “We got a distress call that a polythene bag containing a questionable substance was dropped by a moving Okada man. So we quickly ordered our Anti Bomb squad team to the area.
“The area was immediately condoned off when it was discovered that the polythene bag contained high calibre IED, and our Anti-Bomb Squad was able to successfully detonate the IED and the area was immediately brought under control.
“As I speak to you now, the area is calm and people are already going about their normal activities.”
Lawan also said men of the surveillance and SID personnel were deployed in the area to monitor movements of persons with questionable characters and advised that people should maintain some level of vigilance.
