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Nigeria: Suicide bomb attack destroys 3 fuel trucks in Borno, casualties reported

Nigeria

A blast has occurred at filling station, opposite Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN quarters in the town of Damboa in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State in the country’s northeast.

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) confirmed the attack but said it was carried out by three suspected suicide bombers.

Local media portals are reporting that it was a suicide attack that was luckily thwarted. Reports indicate that the assailants – a woman and her two children – were the only casualties recorded.

Three petrol trucks at the premises of the M Baba Fuel Station were also affected by the incident – two were empty and one loaded. Pictures on social media showed a cloud of smoke from the area. The resulting fire has been brought under control NEMA added.

Update: Three 3 suspected suicide bombers died along Damboa Road, Maiduguri as a result of explosions in early hours of today

— NEMA Nigeria (@nemanigeria) March 3, 2017

FLASH: Suicide bombing rocks Maiduguri

— Sahara Reporters (@SaharaReporters) March 3, 2017

Trend of Friday bombings

For the past three weeks, there has been a trend of attacks in Borno State, usually believed to be orchestrated by the Boko Haram sect.

Three weeks ago – (February 10, 2017), AFP reported the death of eight Nigerian soldiers in an ambush by the insurgents. The new agency cited a member of the civilian task force partnering the army in the anti-insurgency efforts.

A forthnight ago (February 17, 2017), the Army reported a foiled attack on Maiduguri. That incident involved a face-to-face exchange with the group plus three detonated suicide bombings. All the attackers were killed while the civilian vigilante group lost two members with injuries to others.

Last week Friday, AFP again reported of an attack against a military post in Borno State. News of the ambush was broken on a Friday even though it occurred two days earlier on Wednesday. The Army did not respond to requests to corroborate the information at the time even though only 7 attackers were killed.

Borno State is the birthplace of the Boko Haram insurgency that has claimed an estimated 100,000 – according to the governor, Kashim Shettima. It has also led to the displacement of millions of people.

Its effect goes beyond Nigeria with attacks by the group on countries in the Lake Chad region. Cameroon’s Far North region. Niger and Chad have all had their fair share of Boko Haram attacks and displacement.

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