Maiduguri suicde bombing: Death toll rises to 43

Scene of the bomb blast at the post office area of Maiduguri in Borno State, yesterday. Photos: NAN..

Death  toll from the Tuesday’s bomb blast in Maiduguri has risen to 43, hospital sources and emergency workers said. The development prompted  Governor Kashim Shettima to shed tears on seeing the magnitude of the mayhem.

This was even as Borno Elite for Peace, Stability and Progress, BESP, has called on security agencies to invite former governor of the state, Alhaji Modu-Sheriff for questioning over the recent bomb blast in Maiduguri, saying he was an enemy of the state.
It also asked Sheriff to name the bombers having allegedly claimed that Boko Haram was not responsible for the attack, or remain silent.

However, some of the survivors are now receiving treatment at the General Mamman Shuwa Memorial hospital even as most of those killed were youth who sell recharge cards and handset accessories at the GSM Market around the Post Office area. Their dead bodies were deposited at the mortuary of the State Specialists Hospital  now being guarded by soldiers.
A mortuary attendant who spoke in confidence said he counted 43 bodies, many of them decapitated and some with serious burns.

He said: “I counted 43 bodies and most of them are men. We worked throughout the night of Tuesday receiving victims because those who were hit badly by the shrapnel of the blast had to be packed in nylon bags.”
Another source at the hospital said some of those who sustained serious injuries died yesterday.
Journalists were barred from going close to the morgue as only families of victims were allowed access to recover the remains of their loved ones.

Meanwhile, the BESP in a statement by its Chairman, Vice Chairman and Secretary respectively, Messrs Imam Gazali, Saleh Biu and Mrs. Mary Bata in a statement said: “We are amazed at a press statement issued on behalf of former governor of Borno State, Senator Ali Modu-Sheriff by his campaign organisation, revealing that the ex–governor knows those behind the Tuesday deadly explosion in Maiduguri, which claimed the lives of over 40 innocent citizens of Borno State.”