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 eyewitnesses 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.
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.
Via Punch
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