Triple blasts at Nigeria bus station kill eight
People gather to look at a burnt vehicles at the site of a bomb explosion in Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria, on July 1, 2014. A triple bombing at a bus station in north Nigeria on October 31, 2014 killed at least eight people and injured 34 others. PHOTO | FILE |
What you need to know:
- The bus station descended into chaos after the bombs went off, with several injured in a stampede of people trying to flee the scene, the rescue worker said.
- Gombe shares a border with three northeastern states under emergency rule since May 2013 because of the Boko Haram uprising: Adamawa, Borno and Yobe.
KANO
A triple bombing at a bus station in north Nigeria during Friday morning rush hour killed at least eight people and injured 34 others, as hopes of a ceasefire with Boko Haram appeared to suffer another blow.
It is not clear if the Islamist militants were behind the attack in Gombe city, the capital of Gombe state, but the extremists have a track record of targeting commuters.
Gombe’s police chief Abdullahi Kudu said three suspects were arrested immediately after the blasts at the Gombe Line Station at about 9am (0800 GMT).
Multiple witnesses said the men entered the station in one vehicle and then dropped bags packed with explosives between the buses which were filling up with travellers.
A rescue worker, who requested anonymity, said eight bodies were found dead at the scene and brought to the Gombe Specialist Hospital.
Another 34 were wounded, according to National Emergency Management Agency spokesman Manzo Ezekiel.
The bus station descended into chaos after the bombs went off, with several injured in a stampede of people trying to flee the scene, the rescue worker said.
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Mobs surrounded the suspected bombers and police had to intervene to prevent them from being trampled to death, said Gome Line employee Lawanti Aliyu, in an account supported by others.
Locals reportedly threw stones at vehicles carrying security service personnel who rushed to the scene, apparently outraged at the fresh violence in the city which has been attacked by Boko Haram in the past.
Gombe shares a border with three northeastern states under emergency rule since May 2013 because of the Boko Haram uprising: Adamawa, Borno and Yobe.
The police chief said he believed the suspected attackers had travelled together from Yobe, where the insurgents are thought to be in control of several towns and cities.
While there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the latest violence, the militants have claimed credit for a series of bus station bombings this year.
They include two in April and May on the outskirts of the capital Abuja that killed nearly 100 people.
An October 23 attack at a bus station in Bauchi state, which also neighbours Gombe, killed five people, with many again blaming Boko Haram.
