Fifteen civilians have been killed and 17 others injured after a suicide attack in Maiduguri, Borno state by suspected Boko Haram militants, the military said.
Chris Olukolade, Defence spokesman said one of the victims was a member of a civilian vigilante group and that the blast, on the outskirts of the capital of restive Borno state, Maiduguri, destroyed eight vehicles.
“Six of the terrorists died while one has been arrested,” he added in a statement.
In an earler statement, Olukolade had said four of the would-be suicide bombers died as they planned to blow up a petrol station in Maiduguri.
The bombers were ssid to have been killed by soldiers after they opened fire on their explosives-packed cars, the military and witnesses said.
The suspected Boko Haram Islamists were trying to attack a filling station owned by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation on the outskirts of Maiduguri, the epicentre of the brutal insurgency which has already killed an estimated 1,500 people this year.
Chris Olukolade, Defence spokesman said in a statement that “three of the four explosive-laden vehicles were demobilised by shots fired at them by soldiers”.
Shortly after the officers opened fire an explosion “rocked the area”, said Olukolade, adding that “four terrorists” died and five soldiers were wounded.
Initial reports indicated that the troops stationed at the checkpoint on the Maiduguri-Damboa road were the target.
But witnesses later said the attackers were trying to speed through the checkpoint so they could set off the blasts at the petrol station, which was backed up with vehicles because of fuel shortages across Nigeria, Africa’s top oil producer.
Local residents said some soldiers or bystanders may have been killed by the blasts but there was no immediate confirmation, until the latest statement that confirmed 15 civilians dead at the scene of the blasts.
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