Explosions Kill 5 Suspected Boko Haram Members

Bomb attack by Boko Haram in Borno

Massive multiple bomb blasts rocked Biu, a townin Borno State, killing five persons and throwing the town into  apprehension as many residents had to scamper for safety.

A source said the explosions occurred on Saturday night at a hidden bomb factory during the mixture of chemicals by members of Boko Haram sect.

The source said it was the sound of the explosions that drew officials of the state security to the site of the incident and subsequently led to an exchange of gunfire between the military and the remnants of the sect who were lucky to be spared by the explosions.

Another version of the tale by a different source in Biu town, has it that the multiple blasts went off, after men of the Joint Task Force (JTF) clashed with the suspected Boko Haram gunmen for about half an hour.

The source claimed that the sect's members had to detonate the bombs as they could not withstand the firing powers of the soldiers and that it was perhaps a strategy to prevent all of them from being captured.

The source said the bombs however killed five suspected  members of the sect  and partially destroyed the “bomb factory”.

Biu is 187 kilometres, south of Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, and one of the five councils in the state that a state of emergency was imposed by President Goodluck Jonathan last December.

Audu Ibrahim, a resident of Biu in a telephone conversation with journalists yesterday said: “we started hearing sporadic gunshots on Gombe road at about 9 pm and people started running to their houses for safety. After an hour, we heard the sound of multiple explosives boom …boom…boom for 15 minutes simultaneously.”

Confirming the  blasts Sunday in Maiduguri, the Field Operations Officer of the JTF, Lt. Col Victor Ebhaleme, said  the blasts went off in the night of Saturday at one local bomb-making factory house on Gombe road.

He said the blasts were not targeted at any of the public buildings or military posts in the area, but the suspected Boko Haram members detonated the bombs, after they could not resist the firing powers of soldiers on patrol in Biu to protect people’s lives and property.

He said: “We got the information that some suspected  Boko Haram members  were planning to invade Maiduguri from Biu town, 187 kilometers away with a view to causing crises. This prompted the JTF, 331 Battalion in Biu town and the Department of State Security Services (SSS)   to mobilise our men to Biu town where we found  pieces of human parts numbering about five destroyed by Improvised Explosive Devises (IEDs).”

Ebhaleme, who spoke to journalists on phone, revealed that: “Three GPMG; five AK47; nine magazines, 73 rounds of ammunition and some improvised explosive devise making materials were recovered from the Boko Haram suspects. “Besides, we were able to arrest two of the suspects while they were trying to flee the bomb making factory,” he added.