Musdapha Ilo, Maiduguri

The military said Sunday that an attempted attack on ‘A’ Division of Police Command situated by the main round-about in the heart of Damaturu, the Yobe State capital, by a suicide bomber has been foiled.

Defence spokesman, Chris Olukolade, said the suspect who was aarrested by the police was operating in a pickup vehicle laden with Improvised Explosive Devices, IEDs.

He said a total of 6 already constructed turbine containers loaded with explosives as well as 20 litres of petrol and 11 bags of beans chaff were recovered from the scene and are in the custody of the Joint Taskforce headquarters in Damaturu.

The police anti-bomb squad has also safely detonated the explosive.

Witnesses told journalists that the bomber, who drove into the town in a pickup van from its southern border, rammed the vehicle into the protective sand bags at the Police A Division, located in the busy area of the town, but that the explosive device failed to detonate.

The suicide bomber was subsequently arrested minutes later and has made useful confessions to an interrogative panel of the 7 Division Special Operation Battalion in Damaturu.
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The state commissioner of Police, Sanusi Rufai, while confirming the incident to journalists in Damaturu gave the name of the suspect as Abubakar Umar, adding that he is 19-years-old.