2 suicide bombers attempt New Year attacks in Nigerian city of Gombe

By Aminu Abubakar, for CNN

Several people were injured when a
suicide bomber blew himself up outside a church in the
northeastern Nigerian city of Gombe on New Year's Day,
residents and a rescue worker said.
It came only hours after a female suicide bomber was killed
outside the Bolari military barracks, also in Gombe, on New
Year's Eve, witnesses said.
The male bomber, who was on a motorcycle, struck outside an
evangelical church in the Tudun Wada area of the city at
about 9 a.m. local time, as worshipers attended a New Year
service.
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, according to Samson Luka, an eyewitness.
"Some people nearby were injured from the blast
but none of the injuries are life-threatening," Luka
said.
A Nigerian Red Cross official in the city confirmed
an "explosion by a suicide bomber" outside the
church in which some worshipers were hurt.
The botched bombing was the first violence this
year to hit a region that has been wracked by a
five-year deadly uprising by Boko Haram militants.
The explosion terrified residents, who rushed from
their homes into the street in fear.
"The moment I heard the huge blast my mind told
me it was a bomb and I dashed out of my house
only to learn it was from a suicide bomber outside the
church," said resident Hauwa Ahmed.
There was no immediate comment from authorities on the
blast.
In the incident Wednesday evening, soldiers opened fire on the
woman when she refused to stop for a search, triggering an
explosion of the suicide belt she was wearing under her veil,
according to witnesses.
The woman ignored orders by soldiers on guard at the gates
of the military barracks to stop at a distance for screening
and instead strode toward them, said resident Adamu Kuntau,
in an account supported by other residents.
"The soldiers opened fire on the woman and the suicide belt
concealed under her hijab exploded, killing her," Kuntau said.
Security at the barracks has been reinforced since last June,
when a female suicide bomber blew herself up when she was
stopped outside the barracks for screening, killing one soldier
and injuring another.