By Sam Kayode
Twenty residents have died from the impact of an improvised explosive device (IED) attack at a “Mai shai” local tea shop at Kawuri community of Borno state yesterday.
The attack, which happened Wednesday evening actually targeted residents in the Kawuri community who are in the habit of gathering in such tea or coffee shops called Mai shai in Hausa language to sip tea or coffee and update on the state of the nation before going home to sleep.
A source who was not far from the incident told this reporter on phone that at least 20 residents died on the spot after the IED attack as they were gathered at the joint in Kawuri while several others suffered various forms of injuries and have been rushed to the nearest hospital.
“We heard a loud blast at about 8:30 pm coming from the area where many people were gathering for night chats in the tea joint. I saw the corpses of people scattered on the ground while many others were seriously injured.” He said.
Kawuri community was a complete ghost town due to the lingering fear of the insurgents by residents who became internally displaced people in Maiduguri until the 10 of September 2020, when the Borno state government resettled 750 households of residents back to their ancestral homes after years of Boko haram torments.
No group has claimed responsibility, but ISWAP has increased such attacks recently on council areas in the past few weeks as they did in Jakana in Northeast Nigeria.
As at the time of filing this report, the Borno state police spokesperson could not be reached for comments on the attack which came amidst planned national hunger protests across the country.
