By Musdapha Ilo

The Police in Yobe State on Wednesday said it recovered explosive devices from a suspected female suicide bomber inside a highlander jeep seized at a checkpoint in Damaturu, the state capital.

The state commissioner for police, Marcus Danladi, who made this known at a press briefing, said after a search by men of the Explosive Ordinance Department, EOD, of the command, six unexploded bombs were discovered in the vehicle.

He added that four pieces of 81 mm calibre capable of traveling a 1000 meter radius and two other improvised ones were recovered and effectively defused at the scene.

Danladi revealed that a suspected female suicide bomber in the Jeep was carrying with her a bag containing unexploded mortar bombs which she was still holding when policemen noticed her.

According to him, the woman, who was crying for help at the scene, tried to lure the policemen at the checkpoint close to her so that she could detonate the bomb but the policemen did not fall into the trap set by her.

The police chief also revealed that the woman detonated the bomb on her and later died at the scene as a result of the injuries sustained in the blast while the remaining mortar bombs in her custody were recovered and successfully defused.

The commissioner also said that men of the command on patrol at Bara in Gulani local government area recently engaged the insurgents and liberated a village market from possible attack.

He said in the process, the police recovered a General Purpose Machine Gun, GPMG, two AK 47 rifles with loaded magazines as well as 60 rounds of ammunition.

His men, according to him, also recovered an Improvised Explosive Devices, IED and 500 units of GPMG live ammunition.

It would be recalled that suicide bombers on a mission to an unknown destination were on Monday accosted at a check point in Damaturu. In the ensuing confrontation, IEDs were triggered by the bombers killing eight people, including three policemen.