NIGERIA- Gravediggers on Wednesday said they buried 86 people from a double suicide bombing in northeast Nigeria, nearly three times more than the official toll.
Two blasts ripped through a mosque and market on Tuesday in the town of Mubi, Adamawa state, in an attack that bore all the hallmarks of Boko Haram jihadists.
On Wednesday the official death toll rose to at least 29 but local residents, a hospital source and rescue worker told AFP that many more died.
One worker at Mubi’s only cemetery said they were “shocked” to hear about the lower toll.
Asking to be remain anonymous, he told AFP, “We worked up to 21:00 burying bodies. By the time we closed, we had 76 graves. We buried 76 people yesterday (Tuesday),”
“Today, as at 15:00 (Wednesday), 10 more bodies were brought in and buried. These people died overnight from injuries, obviously.”
Another gravedigger added, who also be anonymous, supported the claim, he said, “We hope we are done with the burials.”
Imam Garki, head of operations for Adamawa and Taraba states at the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), said two of the 11 people critically injured had died overnight.
He said, “The total number of deaths is 30. The others are responding to treatment,”
However Ahmed Sajo, information commissioner for Adamawa state gave the lower death toll of just 29, he said it was “possible people could have identified their relations and taken them home without going to the hospital”.
He added, “In that case, we have no way of knowing how many of such cases there were. it’s possible some people could have buried their dead without taking them to hospital.”
Unfortunately differing death tolls are common in Nigeria as authorities have previously under-reported casualties due to Boko Haram conflict.
The attack on Tuesday attack comes a day after US President Donald Trump promised Nigerian counterpart, Muhammadu Buhari, greater support in fighting the Islamist extremists.
Photo Credit- Aaj TV
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