Professor, 3 others confirmed dead in University of Maiduguri explosion

A professor at the University of Maiduguri and three others were killed and 15 people wounded on Monday in a twin suicide bombing in the university, the police have confirmed.

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) also confirmed the number of deaths. It, however, said 17 people were injured.

Borno police public relations officer, Victor Isuku, said in a statement that the blast occurred at about 5:15 a.m.

“At about 0515hrs of today, a police mobile force personnel on duty near gate 4 at the back of university of Maiduguri, gunned down a female suicide bomber of about 12yrs old, who was trying to infiltrate the university premised, and the IED strapped to her body exploded killing her instantly.

“Shortly after that, a second explosion occurred in a mosque inside the university. Four (4) persons including a professor and the second suicide bomber died, while fifteen(15) persons sustained various degrees of injuries and were rushed to UMTH”, he said.

‎In his statement, the spokesperson of NEMA, Sani Datti, said: “One of the suicide bombers detonated his explosion at a Mosque near Gate 1 when people were observing their early morning prayer, the second one occurred around Gate 5 of the University.

“Rescue and security officials were at scene and seventeen injured victims were evacuated to hospital.

“Two persons and two suicide bombers confirmed dead (total of four) at the time of response.”

There was no claim of responsibility but the attacks bore the hallmarks of Boko Haram, which has killed 15,000 people and displaced more than 2 million during a seven-year insurgency to set up an Islamic state in Nigeria’s northeast.