Six suspected suicide bombers were arrested on Wednesday, August 12, in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state.
The men, allegedly members of the dreaded Boko Haram sect, were detained by members of the civilian Joint Task Force in the area and handed over to the troops. The arrest was stated to have come shortly after the local vigilante had reported a threat letter containing that more attacks were coming, Famzn News reports.
Vigilante Umar Hassan disclosed that the suspected bombers had tried to disguise as medicine sellers, hiding the explosive devices under the basket:
“They pretended to be medicine vendors selling paracetamol, panadol and other tablets. When we arrested them, one of them who confessed, stated they were to target Maiduguri Monday market. We handed them to soldiers.”
Maiduguri Monday market was rocked by two dire explosions on March 10, 2015. Scores of people were killed in the attack purportedly launched by Boko Haram insurgents. In January of the same year the troubled market was attacked by a suicide bomber, with the death toll having reached 20 people.
Meanwhile, recent reports provided that the Nigerian military were on August 11 engaged in the battle with Boko Haram terrorists in Kayamula village located near Maiduguri.