Maiduguri blasts: Ablution saves me from death –Lone survivor

The only lucky survivor of Maiduguri multiple ex­plosions which killed no fewer than 37 people has said he survived the tragedy be­cause he was performing ablu­tion in preparation for the night­fall Muslim prayers.

Tijjani Bulama whose entire household; his father and siblings, perished in the first twin explosions at a mosque in Molai, a suburb of Maiduguri, Thursday night, said he was performing ablution few metres away when suicide bomb­ers detonated explosive devices in the mosque, bringing the entire roof down. “All the people in the mosque were killed,” a very emo­tional Tijjani said yesterday near the scene.

The lone survivor who appeared traumatized said he lost hearing immediately after the blast as many residents rushed to the scene to res­cue the victims. “I could not hear anything again. I was shocked and didn’t know what to do. It was a bad experience for me,” he added.

Residents said a male suicide bomber strolled into the mosque at about 6.30pm, Thursday and min­utes later, a loud sound came from the mosque as the roof carved in, killing all worshippers. “After the first blast, Civilian JTF, relatives and other people came to rescue the victims, unknown to them the sec­ond one (suicide bomber) detonat­ed his own in their midst as second­ary explosion killing more people,” a Civilian JTF leader told Saturday Sun on condition of anonymity.

Borno State Commissioner of Police, Aderemi Opadokun put the casualty figure at 14. “Twin IED explosion at Molai, outskirts of Maiduguri at about 1835 hours of 15/10/15 and two suspected suicide bombers detonated IEDs in and outside a mosque. Number of death is about 14,” the CP said in a mes­sage. However, the death toll rose to 30 in the early hours of Friday as more corpses including the village head of the area, were discovered and evacuated to the hospital mor­tuary.

Spokesman of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Northeast zonal office, Abdulkadir Ibrahim confirmed the casualty rose to 30. “As at today (Friday) 32 casualties were record­ed and taken to the state specialists’ hospital, 7 in critical condition have been referred to teaching hospital (University of Maiduguri Teach­ing Hospital). 30 dead deposited at Specialists Hospital mortuary,” he said in a text message.

While residents were still grab­bling with the Thursday tragedy, another blast came again, at Uma­rari village also around Molai, less than a kilometer to the scene of the first blast. Three female bombers invaded a mosque in the village at about 5.30am and blew themselves up in the mosque, leading to the death of seven people including the suicide bombers.

Gov Kashim Shettima who vis­ited the scenes, commiserated with the families and relations of the de­ceased even as he urged the people to be more security conscious and report suspicious persons or group of people to the security agencies in the area.