34 dead, 42 injured in blast

An explosion which occurred in Maiduguri, Borno State on Tuesday, March 10, has claimed 34 lives, according to reports.

A driver, identified as Hamisu, who was close to the scene of the explosion said:

“I was in my car (a Volkswagen Golf), dropping three passengers that I picked from Gomari straight to Kasuwa through the Post Office peacefully and smoothly. When the last passenger was alighting from the car, I heard a heavy, strange sound that shook everywhere and everything around.”

“Immediately we saw heavy black smoke opposite us at the small entrance of the Monday Market near the El Kanemi Roundabout by the Mai Nono(fresh cow milk) place where these Fulani women sell nono, fresh cow milk around 4.47 pm. I was terribly scared and could not even move an inch from my car, shivering for some minutes before I started my car and drove away,” he told The Nation.

“We have so far been able to carry about 30 bodies to the hospital and over 30 seriously injured people, apart from those who ran away from the scene, wounded and those that went to the hospital on their own,” a member of the civilian vigilante, Mustapha Idi said.

“We have 34 deaths and 42 wounded people. The ambulance vans are coming,” a hospital source, who chose to remain anonymous, also said.

State Commissioner of Police, Clement Adoda confirmed the attack but did not give an official casualty figure.