Female suicide bomber attacks Gombe barracks

A female suicide bomber on Sunday killed herself and a soldier close to the Quarter-guard of the 301 Battalion of Nigerian Army in Gombe,

Gombe State.

There were however conflicting reports on how the incident which also injured another soldier happened.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the female bomber, was riding on a motorcycle and on approaching the gate of the military facility, hugged a soldier.

This, it said, led to a bomb concealed   in her hijab   to explode, killing both of them.

But the Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, Mr. Abdullahi Jalo, told one of our correspondents on the telephone that the female bomber, who was   on foot was asked   by soldiers manning the entrance to the facility to turn back but she declined.

According to him, one of the soldiers ran after her not knowing that she had an explosive device concealed in her hijab   which she immediately detonated.

Jalo said, “A female suicide bomber was approaching the army quarter guard around the railway area; she was heading towards the military post and they kept telling her to stop.

“She however kept advancing and one of the soldiers approached her, perhaps to forcefully stop her. It was at this point that she blew up herself and the soldier at about 10.50am.”

The Director of Defence Information, Maj.-Gen. Chris Olukolade and the Special Adviser (Media) to the Gombe State Governor, Mr. Ayuba Alukwe, also confirmed the incident.

Olukolade told NAN   in a telephone interview from Abuja that normal activities were ongoing at the barracks as of Sunday evening.

‘‘Intelligence deduced from credible information earlier received on this plot confirms the vigilance of some members of the public,’’ he said.

Olukolade later issued a statement which read, “Troops mounting a security check point at a barrack entrance in Gombe this morning intercepted a lady suicide bomber while she was attempting to gain entry into the barracks.

“The lady suicide bomber who had primed herself with improvised explosive devices concealed under her Hijjab was intercepted when troops acting on intelligence report indicating that a terrorist group was plotting to attack barracks around Gombe using female suicide bombers, halted her and as she was being searched the bomb detonated killing the lady.

“Unfortunately, one of the troops conducting the search also died while another was wounded in the explosion.”

When contacted, Alukwe   said information on the incident was still sketchy because the military had yet to issue a statement on it.

He said “We’ve been trying to reach out to the military to get a clear picture of what   really happened   but they’ve not given us any information yet.

“There was an incident. We saw people running helter skelter and the military has barricaded the area.

“That is all I know so far. They made me understand that they need to get clearance from the Defence Headquarters before they can speak.”

Four days ago, an armoured tank exploded in front of the residence of the state governor, Alhaji Ibrahim   Dankwambo, killing two people and injuring others.

Meanwhile, Cameroonian troops have in the last one week killed 102 Boko Haram insurgents, Reuters said in a report on Sunday.

It added that two Boko Haram members who were part a 50-man armed gang that attacked Mayo Tsanaga,   a town in Cameroon’s far north on Saturday, were killed.

Cameroon had deployed 1,000 troops along its border with Nigeria after more than 200 girls were kidnapped by the sect in Chibok, Borno State on April 14.

The troops had killed 40 insurgents on May 31, 2014 shortly after two Italian priests and a Canadian nun were released in Kousseri.

On Wednesday, Cameroonian soldiers also killed 60   insurgents   in its territory 24 hours after the sect   raided Danjara, Agapalwa and Antagara in Gwoza Local Government Area of Borno State.

According to the Voice of America, the   60 insurgents were killed when they crossed over from Borno State to Dabanga in Cameroon.

Fonka Awah, the Governor of the far north region of Cameroon, said after his office received information that some Boko Haram members were hiding in Cameroonian villages, he asked for special troops to be deployed.

“Without mincing words, after such a situation, you reassemble the forces and map out strategies; you galvanise them and put them back into action and I think that is what we have just done,” he had told the VOA.

Cameroon deployed troops to the far north after it was accused by Nigeria of not doing enough to tackle Boko Haram.

Cameroon government spokesperson Issa Tchiroma Bakary confirmed that a raid was carried out early on Saturday morning by 50 well-armed gunmen believed to be members of Boko Haram.

He said, “Our defence and security forces fought back immediately. (They) killed two of the assailants, seized one of their vehicles and a Kalashnikov war weapon, forcing them to run back crossing the border into the Nigerian territory.”

He did not say if any government troops were killed or wounded in the fighting.