36 dead as explosions rock Biu again

There was multiple bomb explosions in Biu, the
biggest town in south of the troubled Borno State
on Tuesday, a resident of the town, Ibrahim Isah,
said on the telephone.
Though details of the explosions remain sketchy
as the extent of damages and number of casualty
could not be ascertained on Tuesday afternoon,
Isah said the incident occurred at about noon.
He insisted that it was massive and might have
led to huge loss of lives.
A member of youth vigilante, who spoke on the
condition of anonymity on the telephone to our
correspondent, said the incident happened at a
neighbourhood known as Yamarkumi along
Maiduguri Road.
“There were three explosions in Yamarkumi here
in Biu town. Many people have been affected; the
casualty figure from what we are seeing now have
surpassed that of the market suicide bombing that
occurred on Thursday. Ambulances are rushing in
and out for now. We will give you details later,
“another health worker told our correspondent.
However, one medical source at the General
Hospital, Biu told AFP that 36 people were killed
while 20 were injured in the blast.
Effort to get a confirmation of the incident from
the Police and military authorities failed. But a
security source at the 7th Division of the Nigerian
Army, Maiduguri, an Army captain, whose name
could not be published as he was not authorised
to speak to the press, said the matter had been
reported and the military operatives were already
embarking on a full scale action in the area.
Meanwhile, the Boko Haram insurgents have burnt
down the palace of the Emir of Askira in Askira-
Uba Local Government Area of Borno State, the
spokesman for the youth vigilante group, Jubrin
Gunda, said on Tuesday.
Speaking to our correspondent on the telephone
from Maiduguri, the state capital, Gunda said the
palace was attacked by the insurgents on Sunday
night.
He said during the Sunday’s attack the palace
was razed by the sect’s fighters.
He lamented that after beating a retreat on
Sunday, the insurgents came back to Askira on
Monday morning to continue their reign of terror
as they burnt down some other houses and killed
many residents of the town.
He said, “As of now, I cannot tell you the number
of people killed but all I can say is that the palace
of the emir was razed on Sunday by the
insurgents at night, they equally returned to burn
more houses in the town on Monday morning.”
“At the moment, they are not in the town as they
have fled back into the bushes and as such you
cannot say the town was captured.”