January 1, 2015 – What would have been a major New Year disaster was averted in Gombe, Thursday when a suspected member of the radical Islamic sect, Boko Haram blew himself up when he was prevented from gaining access to worshipers in an evangelical church.
Eight people were said to have been wounded in the incident. The bombing took place hours after a female suicide bomber was killed outside the Bolari military barracks, in Gombe, on New Year’s Eve.
The New Year bomber, identified as a male rode on a motorcycle and struck outside an evangelical church in the Tudun Wada area of the city around 9 a.m during a New Year service of songs.
We gathered that the explosives strapped to his body detonated as he was having a heated argument with church volunteers who had set up a barricade some distance from the church to screen people and prevent any attack by the Islamist militant group Boko Haram, an eye witness, Samson Luka said.
“Some people nearby were injured from the blast but none of the injuries are life-threatening,” Luka added.
