Boko Haram: 200 female students escape bomb attack

About 200 female students escaped death when terrorists, suspected to be Boko Haram members, launched a bomb attack on the BOT Female Hostel of the University of Maiduguri, Borno State, in the wee hours of Friday.

The bombers reportedly failed in their bid as the bombs strapped on their bodies were said to have exploded before they could gain entry into the hostel as they were prevented by the institution’s security outfit and the civilian JTF operating on the campus.

However, three of the suspected suicide bombers died in the failed attack, following two deafening explosions which occurred around the Meri-Muna Garage of the higher institution and in the city centre between 10.50 p.m. on Thursday and 12.08 a.m. on Friday.

The suicide bombers were said to have improvised explosive devices strapped to their bodies, in their latest persistent bid to bring down the bastion of western education in the state.

Confirming the incident, the president of the students’ union of the institution, Abu Babati, described the second explosion as a wicked assault, even as the university community, especially the students, are still in shock over the incident.

There was pandemonium following the first explosion, even as security personnel of the institution stopped one of the suicide bombers before getting to his target.

The bombers were said to have gained entry into the university campus through a guide as most of the earlier attempts failed as they were carried out by young elements who did not know the terrain of the institution.

The bombers were reported to be mostly guided to their targets by members of the insurgent group who were allegedly given instructions by their sponsors to bring down the university.

Another student of the institution, Chima Okoh, said, “The terrorist guide ran into the hostel, having being spotted by one civilian JTF boy and told one elderly female student who saw him to shut up or scream at her peril.

“We don’t know what happened to him but he was obviously supposed to guide the strapped bomber to kill us if not for the university security and the civilian JTF. So, the bomb had to explode outside our hostel. That was how we were saved. Nobody could sleep till this morning.

“The painful aspect of it all is that we do not have light in the campus; support is from public source. But the university tries to give us its supplies till twelve when their generators are put off. The grid around here is not useful in times of tribulations like this.”

The students’ union president of the institution, Babati, said the first explosion occurred around the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine area, adding that the students were all forced to hold vigil in their hostels till Friday morning.

According to him, the bomber detonated the bomb when accosted and was shot at by soldiers stationed inside the university campus.

However the Deputy Vice Chancellor, Professor Aliyu Shugaba, who also kept vigil, told Saturday Tribune in a telephone conversation on Friday morning that none of the institution’s security personnel was killed in the two explosions.

It will be recalled that there was a twin-explosion early this month in which two soldiers and two security men from the university lost their lives, alongside a male suicide bomber.

The state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Victor Isuku, also said three security personnel of the institution were injured, along with some civilian JTF boys who have put their lives on the line to prevent further attacks, allegedly by members of the Boko Haram sect, on the University of Maiduguri.

Meanwhile, security personnel and NEMA officials have flooded the university which has continued to be a target of attack since the heightened insurgency from 2009 till date.

Anti-bomb personnel have been planted in strategic locations within the university campus to detect any booby trap, even as normalcy was said to have been restored to the largely unfenced vast land of institution.