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EXCLUSIVE: How Army troops of OPHK arrest two suicide bombers in connection to Maiduguri Mosque attack By: Zagazola Makama Troops of Operation Hadin Kai (OPHK) have recorded a major operational success in Borno and Yobe states with the arrest of two suspected suicide bombers and the disruption of critical logistics networks sustaining Boko Haram terror activities. One of the suspects was apprehended in Banki town during joint operations and intelligence-led patrols by troops deployed under the Joint Task Force North East (JTF NE), while the second was earlier arrested in Damaturu, Yobe State, in connection with the Dec. 24 suicide bomb attack at the Gamboru Market Mosque. Zagazola report that the attack was part of the coordinated plans by Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad (JAS), Ansaru and Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) elements to execute suicide bombings and improvised explosive device (IED) attacks across parts of the North-East zone. It was gathered that a Boko Haram team led by a notorious IED expert, Munzir Abu Ziyadah, allegedly prepared up to 10 person-borne improvised explosive device (PBIED) attacks from the Ali Ngulde camp axis. The terrorists reportedly moved through the Ngoshe Mountains towards Gazuwa and Ngom, infiltrating several communities in Borno State ahead of planned attacks. One of the terrorists successfully detonated his explosive at Gamboru Market Mosque on Dec. 24, killing five worshippers and injuring 32 others. Shortly after the Maiduguri bomb blast, the Theatre Commander Joint Task Force, North East Operation HADIN KAI, Maj Gen Abdulsalam Abubakar, directed a shift from routine presence to hunter-killer and pre-emptive interdiction operations across the theater. The Theatre Commander ordered an immediate reconfiguration of forces, with emphasis on intelligence-led operations, layered security around places of worship and markets, and tighter control of movement corridors within Maiduguri and adjoining frontline communities. Zagazola reliably informed that at about 5:40 p.m. on Dec. 29, troops deployed at the Banki Central Mosque intercepted a suspected suicide bomber in possession of primed improvised explosive device (IED) materials. The sources said that further investigation revealed additional incriminating IED materials in the suspect’s possession, while he was currently undergoing detailed interrogation. Meanwhile, investigations into the Dec. 24 suicide bombing at the Gamboru Market Mosque in Maiduguri have also recorded fresh breakthroughs with the arrest and repatriation of another suspected suicide bomber in Yobe state. Zagazola learnt that the suspect, identified as Ibrahim, was arrested in Damaturu by hunters’ group working in collaboration with Operation Hadin Kai and was brought back to Maiduguri on Dec. 29 for further interrogation. The source said Ibrahim was taken to the Izala Mosque in the Tashan Joni area of Maiduguri, where he identified a spot he claimed to have dropped a bag containing an IED after he could not get close enough to detonate it. “However, the bag was not found at the indicated location,” the source said. Further interrogation reportedly led the suspect to confess that he planted another bomb in a bag at the entrance of the Gamboru Market Mosque on Dec. 24, while his accomplice, identified as Adamu, now deceased, entered the mosque wearing a suicide vest which was detonated inside the mosque. The suspect also disclosed that six suicide bombers were deployed to Maiduguri ahead of the attack under the coordination of a terror kingpin. He reportedly named three of the bombers Salisu, Yusuf and Adamu as residents of Maiduguri, while the remaining three another Adamu, Yusuf and Abdullahi, allegedly came from Michika Local Government Area of Adamawa State.