Eyewitnesses gave different figures on the death toll. While one of our correspondents was told by a resident that 20 people lost their lives,
According to the resident, the civilian JTF members spotted the sack on a street and after a prolonged argument on what to do, one of them decided to pick it up.
Tragedy however struck when the IEDs exploded at a point where the team was about to open the sack to unravel its contents. The injured and the dead included anxious residents who had raced to the spot on learning of the "strange sack."
A member of the civilian JTF, who also spoke to one of our correspondents said, " Our team was moving round the town after chasing away some insurgents who had tried to attack us. But in the process, they spotted a strange black polythene bag. One of the team members took the sack to our gathering place.
"But many people had come to know the contents of the sack but before we knew it, a series of explosions happened. About 20 people died in the process. Many, I think, 43 were also wounded."
The Head of the Borno State Hospital Management Board, Salisu Kwayabura, however said that 54 victims were taken to the State Specialist Hospital in Maiduguri.
Kwayabura told Governor Kashim Shettima, who visited the hospital, that of the 54, 13 persons were brought in dead while 13 were treated and released.
EmoticonEmoticon