According to
report, the first explosion took place outside a packed footwear shop around
1620 GMT, followed by a second explosion just minutes later, said Badamasi
Amin, a local trader who counted at least three bodies.
The Twin
blasts in Gombe has been reported to have killed 49, and injured dozens. He said the area was crowded with customers
doing some last-minute shopping on the eve of the Eid festival marking the end
of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
“I was about
70 metres (yards) from the scene” when the first blast struck, he told AFP.
“I and many
other people rushed to assist the victims. While we were trying to attend to
the wounded, another blast happened outside a china shop just opposite the
footwear shop.
“Several
people were killed and many more were injured,” he added.
Ali Nasiru,
another trader, said he saw “people lying lifeless on the ground”.
“Traders and
shoppers helped in evacuating the victims to the hospital,” he said. “I can’t
say how many people were affected but there are many.”
Gombe state
neighbours the states of Borno, Yobo and Adamawa, which have been most affected
by the Boko Haram insurgency that has killed more than 15,000 people in Nigeria
since 2009.
There was no
immediate claim of responsiblity for Thursday’s blasts but a market, bus
station and stadium in the city of Gombe have all in recent months been
targeted by bomb and suicide attacks.
Boko Haram
claimed responsibility in February for an attack on Gombe during which hundreds
of insurgents, armed with heavy weapons, invaded the city for a few hours.
There has
been a spike in attacks by Boko Haram after a four-nation coalition of Nigeria,
Niger, Chad and Cameroon pushed out the militants from captured territory
earlier this year.
The violence
has further intensified since Nigeria’s new President Muhammadu Buhari took
power one and a half months ago and vowed to crush the group, something his
predecessor had also made a priority but failed to do.
Buhari, in an
Eid message, pledged to press on with efforts to quash the militants.
“I was very
aware of your high expectations when I assumed office and I reassure you, my
fellow citizens, that since my inauguration… I have been working with utmost
dedication to meticulously plan and tackle the many national challenges which
we identified and promised to resolve,” he said.
“To succeed however, I need your continued support, understanding and patience.”
Buhari, a
former military man, this week sacked his entire defence top brass and told
their successors that their appointments were solely based on merit.
The new chief
of army staff, Major General Tukur Buratai formally took over Thursday and
sidestepped questions from reporters.
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