“We had an
explosion outside the motor park (bus station) this evening around 8:30 pm
(1930 GMT) which killed five people and injured 15 others,” said Muhammad
Garkuwa, a drivers’ union official.
“The
explosion was from an explosive left by a woman in her handbag beside a bus
waiting to convey passengers to Jos,” he said in an account supported by a
nearby food seller.
The attack is
the latest in a string of similar explosions against so-called “soft targets”
such as busy bus stations and crowded markets in the restive northeast, which
has been hit for the last six years by Boko Haram Islamists.
The group has
been pushed out of captured territory in Yobe, Borno and Adamawa states since
February by a four-nation coalition of troops from Nigeria, Niger, Chad and
Cameroon.
Since then,
the group has reverted to guerrilla tactics, including suicide bombings and
attacks on civilians in urban centres.
Garkuwa said
he loaded the casualties into a vehicle while Yusuf Darazo, who sells food near
the bus station, said the female suspect left her bag after being told the
bus’s destination.
“No-one
suspected her. People around assumed she was making calls before the bus filled
up,” he said.
“As she was
talking in the phone she moved away from the bus towards a row of kiosks, as if
she wanted to buy something, leaving her bag where she was standing.
“She
disappeared and the bag exploded soon after, setting the bus on fire. I saw
five dead and several injured.”
Boko Haram
fighters were suspected at the weekend of attacking a number of polling
stations in Gombe state as Nigerians went to the polls to elect a new
president.
At least
seven people were killed and there was a wave of attacks on Saturday and Sunday
in neighbouring Bauchi state, prompting a an indefinite round-the-clock curfew,
including in the capital, Bauchi city.
The lock-down
has now been lifted.
No comments:
Post a Comment