No fewer than 15 mobile phone dealers and patrons were killed on
Wednesday, while 20 others suffered varying degrees of injuries when two
female suicide bombers blew up themselves at a market located at Farm
Centre in Kano.
A couple of minutes after the explosion, angry residents gathered the
fragmented remains of the female suicide bombers a few metres away from
scene of the blast, piled used tyres on the pieces and set them ablaze.
According to reports from an eye witness who visited the scene a few hours after the blast,some parts of human flesh still littered the environment, which had
been cordoned off by security operatives.
Pieces of cell phones could also be found in most parts of the market after the blast which occurred at about 3pm. Meanwhile, a red Toyota Hilux ambulance,
which arrived the scene minutes after the blast, conveyed the remains
of some of the victims, which were covered with clothes.
The Commissioner of Police in the state,
Mr. Muhammad Katsina, confirmed the incident while briefing newsmen in
Kano, but said only five people died in the explosion. The commissioner added that eight other persons sustained injuries during the incident,
NAN reports. According to him, the incident happened
when a Sharon Space Wagon arrived at the market with six passengers and
dropped two females at the market.
He said soon after the suspects alighted
from the vehicle, the suspects entered the GSM market through different
gates and detonated the bombs.
He said the injured ones had since been rushed to the hospital for treatment.
He called on residents to be
extra-careful and report any suspected character or movement to security
agents for prompt response.
Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari on
Wednesday called for increased vigilance among Nigerians to help ward
off terror attacks on soft targets around the country.
According to a statement by his Senior
Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, the President
made the call in his reaction to the latest terror attacks in Yola and
Kano.
Shehu said the President condemned the blast in Yola on Tuesday evening and that of Kano on Wednesday.
The statement read in part, “The
President extends his heartfelt condolences to the families of the
victims as well as to the government and people of Adamawa and Kano
states.
“President Buhari reassures Nigerians
that his administration is very much determined to wipe out Boko Haram
in Nigeria and bring all perpetrators of this heinous crime against
humanity to justice.
“The President urges all Nigerians not
to despair in the face of cowardly terrorist attacks but to have
confidence in the ability of Nigeria’s reinvigorated, well-equipped and
well-motivated Armed Forces and security agencies to overcome Boko Haram
very soon.
“He believes, however, that vigilance is
a potential life saver, since security agents cannot be everywhere to
deter every planned attack.
“Citizen’s vigilance will therefore help to reduce the frequency of such attacks.”
