The June 29 bomb attacks in Gwazo, Borno state, in NorthEast, Nigeria seems to bring back memories of the dark days of suicide bombers, after years of reprieve. The incident, thus, raises the question as to whether suicide bombers have returned to Nigeria. John Nwokocha writes.
On Saturday, June 29, a shattering sound of bombs rocked the entire Gwoza community, in Gwarzo LGA of Borno state, in North East Nigeria. It will go down in history as one of the deadliest attacks in recent time. In the aftermath, victims of the attacks who survived death are left injuries ranging from abdominal ruptures to skull and limb fractures.
The development was a rude shock to the state government, Nigerian Federal government and its entire security operatives and of course, the international community. The horror and panic caused by the onslaught are alarming and portrays the attackers as wielding power that might be difficult to confront.
But only a day before the gory attack, the military said it neutralized 2, 245 Boko Haram and ISWAP fighters during operations.
The incident was the first multiple explosions in the region this year in the face of over a decade of terrorist attacks by the terror groups Boko Haram and ISWAP.
The attack was the first in nearly five years, after the June 2019 suicide attack at a football match viewing center in Borno. At least 30 victims were killed in that attack.
Gruesome Killings
And, in the wake of the devastating rain of bombs lives were lost, including children and a pregnant woman, valuable properties ruined. To put it simply, the bombers had left casualties in their trail. When the tally of the victims was compiled 20 persons had been despatched to their early graves, while 52 were maimed with various degrees of injuries, in one fell swoop.
The suicide bombers targeted a crowd of people at a funeral event and marriage ceremony in Gwoza town. Gwoza is a border shared with Cameroon.
The state emergency management agency said three female bombers sneaked into a wedding party, funeral prayer and a hospital at intervals in Gwoza.
Female Bombers At Work
The multiple bombings were executed by all-female suicide bombers who detonated Improvised Explosive Devic (IED). And, Borno was abuzz with tension and fears again.
Sadly, it marked the return of the dreaded suicide attackers. Reports said the bombers were all females. Further revelations indicated that the bombers were 50 in number. For the past five years of respite from suicide bombers in the State and even, the nation’s seat of power, Abuja, the female bombers have been trained and equipped to unleash offensives on the public.
How They Operated
“The first was recorded at about 1500hrs, when a female suicide bomber disguised as a beggar invaded a wedding reception at Mararaba Hausari Street and detonated Improvised Explosive Device.
“Thereafter, at about 1700hrs, while efforts were on to stabilized and move causalities of the initial explosion to hospital for further treatment.
“There was a second detonation from another female suicide bomber.
“The second explosion was on the same street and in close proximity to the first explosion.
“Troops immediately imposed a curfew on the community in order to get members of the community indoors and prevent further casualties. However, while troops and hybrid forces were enforcing the curfew a third explosion was recorded.
“The third explosion targeted the troops enforcing the curfew.
“The troops were attacked from behind by a third lady strapped with IED vest. The explosion killed a soldier and two members of hybrid forces.
The fourth incident was averted when the suspect was identified early enough, and she detonated the bomb prematurely whereby she became the only casualty.
“On the whole, 20 persons were killed while 52 sustained various degree of injuries and receiving treatment”, the Nigerian Defence Headquarters had said while reacting to the attacks.
Boko Haram Back On Battlefield
In a quick response to the development a terrorist group-Boko Haram claimed responsibility for the attacks. The terror group has been perpetrating violent attacks in Nigeria since 2009, operating from Miaduguri, Borno state and spreading across the north and beyond the Lake Chad region.
Despite being tagged as hotbed for terror activities Borno, indeed, the north east is now turned insurgents’ burrow that constitutes a huge challenge for the government to surmount.
Few hours after the attacks, the Armed Forces of Nigeria authorities issued a security advisor to the citizens. In a statement tagged: URGENT SECURITY ALERT FROM DEFENCE INTELLIGENCE AGENCY! it
Warned that “BHT/ISWAP has recruited additional suicide bombers who will disguise themselves as women, blending in with the crowd. They have already infiltrated our midst.
“The suicide bombing era is beginning to resurface again, as ISWAP has recruited suicide bombers to infiltrate crowds. This happened yesterday in a community in Gwoza, Borno State.
“Avoid crowded areas as much as you can.
“Please exercise extreme caution and vigilance. Avoid crowded areas and stay safe. Your security is our top priority. Stay informed, stay alert, and let’s look out for each other.
“Source: Defence Intelligence Agency”.
It is pertinent to recall that on 29 June 2009, a United States cable leaked by Wikileaks showed that the CIA predicted an onslaught by Boko Haram (BH), two months before BH started terrorist attacks.
From the 1st October 2010 bombing that rocked Abuja till date, the terrorist group has not backed off deadly attacks, which manifested in bombings of public places and sporadic attacks on public institutions resulting in the loss of scores of lives and destruction of properties.
BH has created tension in the northeast region and the country.
From the 1st October 2010 bombing incident, Boko Haram has claimed responsibility to most of the subsequent bombings that have occurred in the country.
But how did the group of largely half literate unsophisticated persons operating mostly on Okada (commercial motorcycle) transform literally overnight to being able to design, manufacture and deploy bombs in buildings and in vehicles costing in excess of a million naira and carry out attacks in several locations around the country?
CIA Link
Sources said that for some time now, the CIA has been running secret training and indoctrination camps along the porous and vulnerable borderlands of Niger, Chad and Cameroon.
At these camps youths from poor, deprived and disoriented backgrounds are recruited and trained to serve as insurgents.
The agents who supply these youth lure them with the promise of better life and work of Allah and further indoctrinated to believe they are working to install a just Islamic order from the ungodly one that currently holds sway in Nigeria.
The sources added, that American CIA programme officers of this project remain in the background, living the day to day running of the camps to supervisors of Middle Eastern origin specially recruited for this purpose.
Findings show that after several months of indoctrination and training on weapons handling, survival tactics, surveillance and evasion techniques, the insurgents are now put on stand by for the next phase of the operation.
Further checks indicate that, the next phase of the operations involves the identification and selection of the targets which had already been mapped out by the American Embassy. If buildings are the targets for attack, the weapons and technical equipment to be used are kept in safe houses.
Said the source, “The countdown to the attack involves ferrying of the insurgents and quarantine at safe houses for the H hour”.
Continuing, “After the attack, in the ensuing panic, the insurgents make their escape into safe houses to dispose the weapons and disappear and dissolve later into the local population.
“The technical angle of sending out e-mails and messages of responsibility for the attack to the media in the name of Boko Haram is done through secure telecoms equipment by the American programmers of the operation which can hardly be traced.
“If the selected target is to be bombed by an IED, the building is cased for days and the devise inserted when security is lax.
“The devise is then detonated by an in-built timing mechanism or by a hand held detonator some distance away from where the bomb is placed.
“If on the hand, the attack is to be carried out by a suicide bomber, the person to carry it out would have been severely drugged with CIA manufactured LSD to disorientation.
“In his state of mind he would have no clue as to what he is programmed to do having been turned into a veritable human robot”.
The pertinent question arising from this whole horror and tragedy is: How did the largely half literate unsophisticated persons operating mostly on Okada (Motorbike) transform literally overnight to being able to design, manufacture and deploy bombs in buildings and in vehicles costing in excess of a million naira and carry out attacks in several locations around the country?
The Nigerian Armed Forces and security agencies have tried hard to checkmate the group from their incessant offensives. But they keep unleashing deadly assaults on their victims. From all indications, it would appear that they have a well structured command and control system which in spite of their best efforts at containing them, they have seemingly defied the strategies and efforts of combined security agencies in the country in degrading them completely.
Observers Express Outrage
Nevertheless, the narratives are changing. Scores of the terrorists are being taking off the battle fields with continuous assaults and bombardments by the Nigerian troops at the various theatres of military operations.
Additionally, the MNJTF has been neutralizing the terrorists from the Niger, Lake Chad and Cameroon borderlands. The crackdown on the terrorists has yielded not little outcomes. So, many of their foot armies along with their families have surrendered. The military and security agencies have also aborted countless plots to unleash terror by the insurgents.
Speaking on the recent development, a retired top military officer and counter-terrorism fellow at the Nigerian Army Resource Centre Abuja, Sani Usman, said the killings of dozens of foot-soldiers of Boko Haram and ISWAP — the West African branch of the ISIS/, in recent military offensives have depleted the manpower of the terrorists and put them under pressure to express their presence through suicide bombers.
He stressed, “The terrorists’ capacity to make and use IEDs (improvised explosive devices) has been severely crippled. Almost 65% of their experts have been taken out, hence the use of suicide bombers against innocent citizens”.
To Usman, terrorists often resort to the use of women as suicide bombers to divert attention and suspicion because “society is generally sympathetic to women.”
Speaking in the same vein, Abba Kakami, a war journalist who once had a close encounter with Boko Haram in 2014, and Aliyu Saleh, a resident of Maiduguri, said the group considers women critical to their mission.
said Kakami, “This is why they often kidnap women, girls not only for procreation but for human shields and suicide attacks”.
He said Boko Haram believes in kidnapping girls and marrying them to produce children to sustain their mission.
Although hundreds are neutralized, as the armed forces consistently vows to defeat the terrorists,
Nigerians are expressing concern about the resurgence of suicide attacks and the use of women as bombers.
Also, on the global front, the suicide attack was not spared of condemnation.
UN Condemns Borno Deadly Attacks
The United Nations (UN) condemned the suicide bomb attacks in Gwoza town.
The UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, Mohamed Fall, in a statement on Sunday, a day after the bombings, expressed his horror and condemnation of the attacks in the strongest terms.
“I am horrified by this attack on civilian populations and condemn such acts in the strongest terms. I stand in solidarity with the Government of Nigeria and the families and communities of all those affected,” he stated.
Fall also reminded all parties involved in the conflict of their obligations under international humanitarian law to protect civilians from harm.
He emphasised the United Nations’ commitment to supporting the victims of the attacks and conveyed his condolences to the Borno State Government.
“I have reached out to the Borno State Government to express my condolences and offer any support that the United Nations and the humanitarian community can provide to aid the victims of the attack,” he added.
Military Assures of Responding with Force
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Defence authorities have reiterated its vow to defeat the terrorist in the country.
Speaking recently in Abuja, the spokesman of the Defence Media Operations, DMO, Major General Edward Buba said there was no cause for panic.
He said, “it must be recognized that this despicable act is a response to recent successes in ongoing military operations.
“Indeed, our recent operations has decapitated the leadership of the terrorists, depleted their resources, reduced their support base and reduced their influence.
“Clearly, the terrorist embarked on these cowardly attacks against innocent citizens to project an image of strength to cover their weakness and decline.
“Citizen must see through the smoke screen of the terrorist. We must realize that the terrorist aims to counter the reports of their weakness and create panic in the general population.
“The military is aware that in this phase of their ending life cycle, the terrorist is desperate to attract attention, bolster relevancy, mobilise new recruits, reduce support for the armed forces and reduce support for the government”.
Finally, Buba reassures, “Accordingly, we call on citizens to stand united, remain vigilant, and continue to support efforts of the armed forces to ensure a secure and peaceful future.
The fate of the terrorists that perpetrated this insecurity will be violent and short as troops will stop at nothing to take them out of the battlefield”.
Giving similar assurances, the Chief of Army Staff COAS, Lt. General Taoreed Lagbaja, recently declared that “Troops will continue to respond with force in protecting law abiding citizens from security threats”.
