Numerous people were injured outside an evangelical church in Gombe northeast Nigeria on Thursday when a suicide bomber set off his explosive vest while church-goers were celebrating the New Year.
Eye witnesses said the bomber actually targeted the people in the church but he was quickly noticed and prevented from getting into the church building.
“The explosion occurred outside the Evangelical Church of West Africa (ECWA) church this morning,” an eyewitness said. “The suicide bomber was restrained from getting into the church that’s why he blew himself up at the entrance.”
No one was killed in the incidence many people were injured.
Another eyewitness said the bomber arrived during the church service and refused to park his motorcycle outside a security barrier set up by volunteers.
“He insisted on riding through the barrier,” the witness said. “It was while he was arguing with the volunteers that his suicide belt exploded.”
Gombe and many of the north-eastern states in Nigeria has suffered severely in the hands of the insurgents who are constantly threatening the security of the country.
On Wednesday a female suicide bomber was killed as she tried to enter a military barracks in Gombe, while seven others died in a bus explosion village close to Potiskum, in Yobe state on the same day.
Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, who has been frequently criticised for failing to stop the rebels, promised on Thursday to re-equip and re-position the armed forces.
“We will bring justice to the savage terrorists known as Boko Haram. They will be defeated,” the president promised in his New Year message to Nigerians.
“We will not forget. We will not look the other way.”
No group has claimed responsibility of the attack but all fingers are still being pointed at the Boko Haram extremist group, who began constantly unleashing terror on Nigeria since 2009.
