The Commissioner of Police(CP), Damian Chukwu, confirmed the incident to news men in Maiduguri.
Somalia seeks help to defeat insurgency
The Borno State Police Commissioner, Damian Chukwu, has confirmed the death of four female suicide bombers and injuries on eight residents in multiple attacks on London Chiki/Kaleri axis of Jere Local Council.
In a statement yesterday in Maiduguri, Chukwu said: “Today (yesterday), at about 0820 hours, four female suicide bombers attempted to infiltrate Maiduguri metropolis through a farmland behind the parapet in London Sudan of Kaleri area, Jere LGA.
“On sighting the joint security personnel deployed along the parapet, the first bomber hurriedly detonated her suicide vest, killing herself
and a second suicide bomber in the farmland
He continued: “As a result of multiple explosions, farmers who were running back to their homes were stopped and screened at the entry point through the parapet by security personnel.
“In the process, a third female bomber sneaked in and detonated her suicide vest, killing herself alone while eight others, including a member of the civilian JTF, sustained various degrees of injuries.
“In the ensuing stampede, a fourth suicide bomber was sighted by vigilant security personnel while trying to cross the parapet, and was gunned down.”
The police boss said the unexplored vest and that of the second bomber were rendered safe, and the area manned by a team of the Police Explosive Ordinance Department (EOD).
The injured, according to him, were evacuated to the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH) and are responding to treatment.
“Normalcy has since been restored to the affected area,” Chukwu stated.
However, the Somali government has solicited the force’s operational strategy and tactical support to defeat the deadly Al-Shabab group in its locality.
The country’s Deputy Inspector General of Police, Bashir Mohammad Abdul, who made the request yesterday at Nigerian Police Academy in Wudil, Kano, said the helplessness of Somalia in taming the insurgents was partly due to constitutional lacuna that arose from the split operations of the federal and state police in that country.
Accompanied by the contingent of the African Union Mission in Somalia, Abdul said his home government had resolved to overhaul the tactical approach of its security apparatuses with a view to dismantling the Al-Shabab sect in its land.
Representative of the mission in the country, CSP Paul Kissi Frimpong, said the body was poised to strengthening Somali security forces and coordinating the peace mission in that country.
The academy’s commandant, AIG Sani Usman Mohammed, said the Nigerian police force had been repositioned to complete favourably with its peers globally.
