Boko Haram Strikes At GSM Market In Potiskum, Yobe

 As the Nigerian military continued its string of successes against men of the Boko Haram sect at the weekend, there was yet another suicide bomb attack at the Potiskum GSM Market, Yobe State, on Sunday afternoon, when a girl, about seven, strapped with explosives killed herself and five others.

The Police Public Relations Officer ASP Toyin Gbadegesin, while confirming the incident, said 48 others sustained various degrees of injury at a security checkpoint outside a market in the town when the explosion occurred after the girl refused to submit herself to security check at entrance to the market, leading to an argument. The injured were taken to at the Potiskum General Hospital.

The Islamist fighters appear to be on the run in many parts of Nigeria and regions near its borders, after being subjected to a major offensive on all sides, but retain the ability to mount deadly surprise attacks.

Nigerian troops had at the weekend bombarded and reclaimed Baga from Boko Haram on Saturday through airstrikes.

A source was quoted as saying: "We saw the girl and we became suspicious of her movement and when one of us tried to whisk her away, the bomb went off killing both of them and three others while several others sustained injuries and are being taken to the General Hospital in Potiskum."

ASP Gbadegesin said "there is a blast at the Kasuwan Jagwal market (GSM market) in Potiskum where it happened last month but how it happened and the casualty figure has not been known."

Meanwhile, troops engaged in cordon and search in Baga have continued to discover more arms of various types of arms abandoned in some houses and the surrounding by fleeing terrorists.

The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) said on Sunday that "heaps of weapons most of which were strange looking or destroyed were still being gathered. Many abandoned or destroyed motorcycles have also been discovered."

A statement by Director, Defence Information, Major General Chris Olukolade however said "a soldier was stabbed while another was shot during a close quarter battle which ensued as troops involved in cordon and search caught up with some of the fleeing terrorists yesterday evening.

"A number of individuals who claimed to be residents are also being interrogated in order to ascertain their identity and motive," he stated.

The group, he noted, consisting mostly women continued to hail and cheer the troops as they conduct thorough search in the area.

The DHQ had earlier said that hundreds of Boko Haram fighters, fleeing the heavy air bombardments from Nigerian Air Force fighter jets, drowned in Lake Chad during the air strikes heralding the advance of Nigerian troops on mission to flush them out of Baga, Borno State.

The statement said not even the strategy of mining over 1,500 spots with land mines on the routes leading to the town could save the fighters from the aggressive move of advancing troops.

Nigerian Army recently procured and deployed several counter-mines sweeping armoured personnel carriers (APC) and other sophisticated equipment with capability to detect mines planted at 1,000 meters radius.