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| Scene of the Kano bomb blasts in Sabon-Gari, Kano ... on Monday. |
Monday
was yet another bloody day in Kano as over 30 passengers, drivers
and visitors lost their lives to explosions at an inter-state luxury
bus park in the city.
Hours before the blasts, an Islamic
militant group, Boko Haram members laid siege to some schools in
Maiduguri, Borno State, killing four teachers and injuring several
others, including pupils.
The cause of the Kano explosions which
President Goodluck Jonathan described as barbaric, was uncertain as of
8pm on Monday. While some eyewitnesses attributed it to improvised
explosive devices planted in a luxury bus in the ever-busy park,
others said it was carried out by three suicide bombers.
They were however, in agreement that
the explosions also left many injured and some buses destroyed in the
park located in the Sabon Gari, an area mostly inhabited by
non-indigenes.
Reuters correspondent at the
scene said he counted over 30 bodies that were affected by the
explosions which occurred around 4.30pm. But one of the eyewitness
put the casualty figure at more than 60.
Chairman of the Kano chapter of
Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Tobias Idika, said records available to him
showed that more than 60 persons died and five luxury buses burnt.
“This is the worst experience of the
Igbo in Kano; we have lost over 60 souls, while five buses were burnt to
ashes . These show that we have always been the target of the attacks.
“IEDs were kept inside a luxurious bus which was about to leave Kano for Lagos.
“People were flying like chickens here and you know there were so many people in the bus when the IEDs exploded.”
Another eyewitness claimed that the
bombers that carried out the attack had arrived close to the park in a
Volswagen Golf laden with explosives.
He said that as the 59-seater luxury
bus was about to leave the park on New Road garage, the bombers threw
the devices into it.
The bus was also said to be carrying about 49 other passengers on seats called attachments.
Policemen, operatives of the Joint Task
Force and officials of the National Emergency Management Agency who
raced to the scene cordoned off the area.
They were seen evacuating both the
dead and injured victims to the Murtala Muhammed Specialist Mortuary and
hospital and other facilities in the city.
NEMA’s Public Relations Officer, Yushau
Shuaib, said rescuers and security personnel were yet to determine the
source of the explosions and the casualty figure.
“Rescuers and security personnel are
still busy evacuating the wounded and taking the dead bodies to
mortuaries; we have yet to determine the casualty figure,” he added in
an SMS to one of our correspondents.
Some of the injured persons had their arms and limbs amputated due to the impact of the explosions.
Residents of the areas scampered for
safety when they heard the blasts which led to the abrupt closure of
businesses in many parts of the city.
Reacting, President Jonathan condemned the blasts, saying it would not stop his administration from fighting terrorists.
In a statement by his Special Adviser on
Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, Jonathan said the incident
would not deter the Federal Government from its determination to
overcome those who did not mean well for the nation.
He added that the government would not be stampeded into abandoning what he described as its unrelenting war against terrorists.
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