Scores injured in suicide bombing outside Gombe church

Several people were injured on
Thursday outside an evangelical
church in Gombe, the Gombe State
capital, when a suicide bomber set
off his explosive vest amid the
country’s ongoing battle against an
Islamist insurgency.
“There was an explosion outside
the ECWA church this morning. A
suicide bomber who was restrained
from getting into the church blew
himself up,” Abubakar Yakubu, who
heads the Nigeria Red Cross in
Gombe, told the AFP.
“Luckily no one was killed but some
people were mildly injured.”
A witness told AFP that the man
arrived during the service at the
Evangelist Church of West Africa in
Gombe and refused to park his
motorcycle outside a security
barrier set up by volunteers.
“He insisted on riding through the
barrier,” said Dahiru Badamasi, who
lives in the neighbourhood.
“It was while he was arguing with
the volunteers that his suicide belt
exploded.”
Another witness heard an
explosion and rushed outside.
“I saw a man leading three children
with their new dresses stained
with blood,” said Jummai Maifada.
The North-East has seen a
relentless string of attacks blamed
on Boko Haram militants.
Gombe, capital of the eponymous
state, has until recently been
spared the violence that has
shaken the neighbouring states of
Yobe, Borno and Adamawa, where
Boko Haram has taken around 20
towns.
But attacks have increased in
recent weeks.
Meanwhile, there was panic on
New Year eve in Gombe as a large
explosion was heard at the Army
barrack in the town.
It was learnt that two suicide
bombers tried to smuggle their
ways into the Mammy Market at the
Army barracks but were asked to be
frisked by soldiers.
They refused and they were turned
back by the soldiers on guard.
However, the explosive devices
they strapped on their bodies went
off killing the two suicide bombers
and injuring those within the
vicinity including the soldiers who
just turned them back.
An eyewitness, who preferred
anonymity, told our correspondent
on the telephone from Gombe that,
“Two suspected suicide bombers
arrived the scene at about 8pm
local time on a motorcycle but
vehemently refused to be searched
by the security men at the gate.
“Just moments after they were
refused passage by the soldiers,
they detonated the bomb strapped
on them right there at the gate.”
He said the two corpses of the
suicide bombers laid on the floor
on Wednesday night and the
soldiers sustained varying degrees
of injuries but there was no death
on the part of the security men.
He said the entire place had since
been cordoned off by the military.
Seven people had died in a bus
explosion Wednesday in a village
close to Potiskum, in Yobe State.