Security guards at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital intercepted teenagers carrying explosives in a food flask, foiling a suspected bombing attempt that still triggered blasts killing 23 people and injuring more than 100.
Three teenagers allegedly attempted to bomb the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital in Borno State using explosives hidden inside a food flask but were intercepted by security personnel at the facility’s entrance.
Saturday PUNCH gathered that the suspects, who arrived in a tricycle, intended to access the main hospital building to cause massive casualties. The explosives later detonated at the entrance on March 16, killing 23 people and injuring 108 others.
A hospital security guard, Ali Musa, said the suspects appeared suspicious when they approached the entrance at high speed. He described them as “dirty-looking teenagers” pretending to deliver food to patients. “They were three in number—two boys and one rider of the tricycle. I think they were around 13 or 14 years old,” he said, noting that their refusal to slow down for checks raised alarm.
Musa said one of the suspects threw the food flask at him while reversing the tricycle after he ordered them to stop. “I kicked the flask back, and it fell. I then heard a loud explosion and immediately lay flat on the ground,” he said, adding that another blast followed shortly after.
Meanwhile, a separate explosion at Monday Market the same evening heightened security concerns, prompting President Bola Tinubu to direct service chiefs to relocate to Borno.