A devastating explosion has claimed the lives of at least 19 people in Kawuri village, Konduga Local Government Area, Borno State.
The incident, believed to be caused by an improvised explosive device (IED) suspected to have been planted by Boko Haram insurgents, occurred at a local tea joint on Wednesday evening.
The bomb detonated around 8:05 PM as villagers gathered for a night chat, resulting in numerous casualties, according to local reports.
A government official from the village reported that dozens of people were injured in addition to the 19 confirmed dead.
The injured have been evacuated to an undisclosed hospital in Maiduguri for treatment.
“Nobody can say exactly how it happened, but we suspect that the bomb was planted, not a suicide attack,” the official stated on the condition of anonymity. “We saw the corpses of 19 people, with an unspecified number of civilians injured.”
This tragic event comes just three days after insurgents attacked a police station in Jakana town, also in Konduga LGA.
That attack resulted in the deaths of a policeman and a woman, with two patrol vans set ablaze.
The Kawuri community is situated approximately 50 kilometers from Maiduguri, the state capital.
This latest explosion follows another deadly incident 24 hours prior, in which Shettima Mustapha, an accountant with the Local Education Authority in Damboa Local Government Area, was killed when his vehicle struck an IED on the Maiduguri-Damboa-Biu highway.
The incident occurs on the eve of a planned nationwide protest, which the government has repeatedly warned could be hijacked by hoodlums and terrorists.