ABUJA/MAIDUGURI Nigeria
(Reuters) - A female suicide bomber killed herself and a soldier outside
an army barracks in Nigeria's northeastern city of Gombe on Sunday, the
military said, as local leaders reported the death count from a string
of earlier militant attacks had reached 110.
No one claimed responsibility for the blast or last week's assaults but
Islamist group Boko Haram has set off bombs and killed thousands in its
five-year-old bid to carve out an Islamist state in the region.
Soldiers stopped the woman as she tried to get into the barracks with
explosives hidden under her robes, defence headquarters said in a
statement.
The device went
off, killing her and a soldier searching her, it added. "I heard a loud
sound and then black smoke covering the place ... We saw soldiers moving
bodies," Gombe trader Bello Kasuwankatako told Reuters.
Witnesses had earlier said between three and five people died.
Boko Haram – which dominated world headlines by kidnapping more than
200 schoolgirls in April – has fought back against an army offensive,
piling political pressure on President Goodluck Jonathan and the
military to end the carnage. Leaders from Gombe's neighbouring state of
Borno told journalists on Sunday they had now buried 110 bodies from
attacks on nine villages early last week - giving the first detailed
breakdown on the casualties. [ID:nL6N0OL43R] "It was a great tragedy.
There are still corpses lying in the bushes surrounding the communities.
Many of our people that fled to the top of the hills during and after
the attacks are still there and now stranded," said Ali Ndume, a senator
representing southern Borno.
CIVILIANS EASY TARGETS Boko Haram started off focusing on military and
government targets alongside schools - seen as representing corrupt
Western influence - churches, and Muslim leaders who do not follow its
brand of Islam. It has been increasingly turning its guns on civilians
in recent months, particularly after locals started setting up vigilante
groups to try and fight back.
It has become the biggest security threat to Africa's biggest economy and oil producer.
Traditional leader Lawan Abba Kaka said they had buried 42 corpses at
the village of Attagara, 24 at Aganjara, 20 at Agapalawa and smaller
numbers at other settlements - all of them in the Gwoza hills near the
border with Cameroon.
"The
insurgents came and said they wanted to discuss something with us. They
said we need to discuss some issues bordering on our differences in the
communities but they opened fire on people who were gathered," said
Kaka.
On Wednesday, gunmen
rounded up more villagers outside Borno's state capital Maiduguri saying
they were going to deliver a sermon, then opened fire, killing at least
42, said a police source.
"It seems they are moving to rural areas," Hannah Donges, a researcher
at the Small Arms Survey, told Reuters. "They are easier targets ... It
doesn’t need sophisticated tactics. It makes them (Boko Haram) less
predictable."
Suspected Boko
Haram militants attacked a town in Cameroon's far north on Saturday but
local security forces fought them off, killing at least two gunmen,
Cameroon's government said. The militant group is also thought to be
active in neighbouring Niger and Chad. [ID:nL5N0OP0CW]
The kidnapping of the girls from a secondary school in Borno's town of
Chibok triggered a national and international campaign under the Twitter
hashtag #BringBackOurGirls, calling on the government to step its
efforts to free them.