Boko Haram hits Sokoto: 4 killed in twin suicide bomb attacks

Two suspected suicide bombers yesterday hit the zonal headquarters of Nigeria Police Force in Sokoto and another police station in a coordinated attack that claimed lives and left several people injured.

One of the suicide bombers, according to eyewitness accounts, had driven a bomb-laden Mercedes Benz 190 saloon car and hit the main gate of Zone 10 Police Headquarters at Marina area at about 11:45a.m., killing a mobile policeman on duty, a civilian woman and injuring several others. The attacked building also housed the office of the Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG), in the zone.


Another bomber also struck barely three minutes after the first blast at the Unguwar Rogo Police station in the metropolis.  Eyewitnesses said the attacker of the AIG office had hit a motorcyclist before ramming into the second main gate of the building under lock and the vehicle exploded, killing a policeman and another woman who owned a store close to the building.


“We just saw a Mercedes Benz saloon car that apparently lost control and knocked down an Okada rider before it rammed into the police building,” eyewitnesses told Daily Sun. At the Unguwar Rogo Police Station, it was gathered that the suspected suicide bomber failed to gain entrance due to the heavy barricade mounted at the station. The bomber’s vehicle got stuck at the barricade before it exploded. 

Meanwhile, the number of casualties in both attacks could not be ascertained but a visit to the State Specialist Hospital along Sultan Abubakar Road revealed that no fewer than 12 patients were on admission receiving medical attentions.


Dr. Efe Rihiano, of the Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department at the hospital confirmed that only 12 victims were brought to the hospital out of whom two were later referred to the Usmanu Danfodio Teaching Hospital, Sokoto, having sustained deep cuts in their heads. Efe described the conditions of the remaining 10 victims, including two police officers and passersby as “stable,” adding that they were responding to medication. 


When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, (PPRO) Salihu Sani, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) confirmed the attack and said only one policeman and a woman were killed.


His words: “It was true that there are bomb blast at our zonal headquarters and another divisional station at Unguwar Rogo where two suicide bombers killed themselves, a policeman on duty while another woman, who owned a shop near the vicibility was also killed in the attack.” Salihu who could not ascertain the motive behind the attacks added that a preliminary investigation on the incident had commenced.


Members of Jama’atu Ahlis Sunnati Lidda’awati Wal Jihad, also known as Boko Haram had earlier sent  messages to the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Muhammudu Abubakar III and other Muslim leaders in the country threatening attack on the city if its members incarcerated were not release unconditionally by security agencies.