Police confirm 19 killed, 82 injured in suicide attacks in NE Nigeria

ABUJA, Aug. 17– Local police in Nigeria on Wednesday confirmed
19 people were killed, including three suicide bombers, in two separate
attacks in the country’s northeast region.

Eighty-two others were injured in the attacks which occurred Tuesday
evening in Konduga, near Maiduguri, the capital city of Borno State, said
Damian Chukwu, the state police chief. According to him, two women bombers
and another male bomber carried out the attacks at a busy local market in
the area. He said emergency services had been completed in the area, noting
the injured were evacuated to the State Specialists Hospital for
treatment.Local media, however, reported that at least 27 people were
killed in the attacks, citing local sources. Terror group Boko Haram is
suspected to have carried out the attacks.

Borno State, located in Nigeria’s northeast region, is a flash-point of
attacks perpetrated by Boko Haram since 2009 when the group launched its
strikes targeting churches, security facilities, schools and villages.
Nigeria on Tuesday launched a special military force to enhance security
network against Boko Haram, particularly in the northeast region. Named
“special mobile strike force,” the troops deployed from various military
units, are expected to bring vigor into the renewed onslaught against Boko
Haram, said Ibrahim Attahiru, commander of troops in the theater of
operation in the northeastern city of Maiduguri. Attahiru told reporters
in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, that the special military team
became necessary as one of the new approaches evolved by the military to
end acts of terrorism in the West African country.According to him,
soldiers deployed to the force were exposed to modern terrorism combat
techniques to enable them to crush the Boko Haram fighters, deny them
freedom of action and finally decimate them. “This specially selected
force with mixed equipment and platforms were deployed to achieve the
conduct of long range patrols and ambush deep into the hinterlands,” he
said.

The Nigerian troops, which aimed to clear unrepentant Boko Haram fighters
from the shores of the most populous African country, have been sustaining
the tempo in their fight against terrorists. In the past two months, the
Nigerian troops had intensified its campaign against the terrorists,
killing and arresting dozens of Boko Haram fighters. A bomb factory in
Borno was also destroyed.Boko Haram has killed more than 20,000 and
displaced 2.3 million people in its attacks since 2009. – XINHUA