Suicide bombers kill JTF member, three villagers in Borno

Human rights group wants Amnesty International expelled from Nigeria
The Borno Police Command said two female and a male suicide bombers killed a civilian JTF and three villagers after the strapped Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) were detonated in Umarari village on the outskirts of Maiduguri at the weekend.

All the suspected suicide bombers were also killed in the multiple explosions.

Spokesman of the Police Command, Victor Isuku, in a statement yesterday in Maiduguri said that after alighting from an unmarked vehicle, they started running into various directions of Umarari detonating the IEDs and killed four people and the suspects.

The statement reads: “They detonated the IEDs (improvised explosive devices) strapped to their bodies while running to different directions in the village.”

He said that the people that were killed include a local vigilante and a woman and her two children. He said eight other people were also injured in the multiple explosions.

The spokesman of National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Ibrahim Abdulkadir, told The Guardian that the slain civilian JTF was attempting to prevent the bombers from entering the village.

“The vigilante was trying to stop them and that was when he was engulfed by the bomb blast and the woman was nearby,” he said.

In another development, a human rights advocacy group, Save Humanity Advocacy Centre, has urged the Federal Government to expel Amnesty International (AI) from Nigeria over what it termed repeated attempts by the international organisation to undermine Nigeria’s security architecture to the advantage of terrorists that have been tormenting the country.

The group also issued the AI a seven-day ultimatum to immediately leave Nigeria, saying Nigerians have had enough of their “absurdity and evil machinations.”

At a press conference in Abuja yesterday, Executive Secretary of the rights group, Mr. Ibrahim Abubakar, said failure of the Amnesty to leave the country after the seven days, Nigerians would be forced to hit the streets in a protest to compel the Federal Government to expel the international organisation.

Abubakar said Nigerians could no longer tolerate these deliberate acts of sabotage and indirect compromise of national security by the human rights organisation.

He said: “To this end, we are opening a register of protests in our office to collect the signatures of Nigerians, who are resentful to the destructive activities of Amnesty International as well as their dubious reports of hate and espionage on Nigerian soil. And failure of Amnesty International to respond to this plea as stipulated, they would incur the wrath of Nigerians who would have no option than to occupy their offices in the country until government compels the group to leave the country.”

He said the latest report of Amnesty International, which alleged human rights violations against -the Nigerian military and other arms of security agencies in combating acts of terrorism, separatism and extremism in the country, is another indication of the organisation’s continued quest to undermine Nigeria’s security.