Two more child suicide bombers hit Potiskum market

By Umar Muhammad Puma with agency report

At least six people have been killed after two suspected child suicide bombers blew themselves up in a market in Potiskum, Yobe State.

Sunday’s assault was the second attack involving young girls strapped with explosives.

According to eye witnesses, the blasts struck around mid-afternoon at an open market selling mobile handsets in the town of Potiskum in Yobe state, one of three northeastern states after Adamawa and Borno that have been hit by the armed group Boko Haram.

A trader at the market, Sani Abdu Potiskum, said the bombers were about 10 years old.

“I saw their dead bodies. They are two young girls of about 10 years of age … you only see the plaited hair and part of the upper torso,” the trader said.

The town was hit by a suicide bomber in November when at least 48 people, mainly students, were killed during a school assembly.

On Saturday, a bomb exploded at a police station in Potiskum.

Sunday’s explosions came a day after a bomb strapped to a girl aged around 10 years old exploded in a busy market place in Maiduguri, killing at least 16 people and injuring more than 20, security sources said.

Boko Haram, which opposes Western influence and education, has been fighting since 2009 to establish an Islamic state in the northeast of the country. The army’s inability to crush the movement has posed problems for President Goodluck Jonathan, who is seeking re-election in February.

Last year more than 10,000 people died in the violence, according to an estimate by the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations.

The military lost ground in worst-hit Borno state last weekend after insurgents took over the town of Baga and nearby army base, killing over 100 people and forcing thousands to flee. The defence headquarters said on Saturday that the army was regrouping to retake the area.