by Chinwe Okafor

Four people have been confirmed dead following a bomb blast via suicide in the northeast Nigerian city of Potiskum on Sunday.

Two female suicide bombers, one of them aged about 15, were reported to have blown themselves up in a crowded market at Kasuwar Jagwal mobile phone market in the commercial capital of Yobe State.

This comes just a day after a young girl about 10 years of age killed 19 in Maiduguri, in Borno State.

Also on Saturday, two people were killed when a car exploded outside a police station in Potiskum.

According to a security source, “We evacuated six bodies including those of the two female suicide bombers to the hospital. Twenty-one people were injured in the attacks. One of the bombers looked 23 and the other 15.

“The first bomber — the 23 year-old — detonated her explosives just outside the entrance of the market, where volunteers were sweeping people going inside the market with metal detectors.

“The second bomber was terrified by the explosion and she tried to dash across the road but she also exploded.” He told AFP.

Although there hasn’t been an immediate claim to the attacks by Boko Haram, both the security official and a nurse at the Potiskum General Hospital said six people were confirmed dead and 21 were injured.

Sunday being Potiskum’s market day, attracts traders and shoppers from all over Yobe State and outskirts which was why it was an easy target for the terrorists. The second blast saw panicked shoppers flee and traders abandoned their stalls at both the mobile phone market and the city’s main market, which is just next door.

Ada Igboanugo