Two female suicide bombers blew themselves up at a mobile phone market in the northern Nigerian city of Kano on Wednesday (November 18), killing at least 12 people and wounding around 60 others, a Red Cross official and police said.
“They’re ongoing, I may not be able to speak in detail until I secure the environment. What we know from eyewitness accounts is that the vehicle came with six people, all of them dressed in hijab, two of them were dropped there and the other four left with the vehicle. The first woman came here and planted her explosives while the other woman also planted outside. All of them because they are suicide bombers died in the venture. Casualty on the side of civilians, we have three now while eight others have been taken to the hospital for treatment,” said Kano State Police Commissioner, Musa Katsina.
The explosions occurred around 4 p.m. (1500 GMT) at the Farm Center phone market, near the center of Nigeria’s second biggest city, and comes the day after a blast in the northeastern city of Yola killed 32 people and wounded 80 others.
A bloodstained survivor recounted the bomb blast.
“I was just standing close to my table, the next thing I heard was a scary sound then blood from my head, when I looked around I saw people running for their lives,” he said.
Another survivor said he couldn’t remember much besides seeing corpses around him after the bombing.
“I came to buy a phone but the only thing I can remember is the dead bodies around me, then being sent to the hospital,” he said.
The attacks bear the hallmarks of Boko Haram, suggesting that the militant Islamist group, which has killed thousands over the last six years in its bid to create a state adhering to strict Sharia or Islamic law in the northeast, is stepping up its operations.
“I saw at least eight dead bodies and almost 20 injured, but I believe they are more than that,” said one eyewitness.
Another eyewitness said he followed one of the women to push for a sale, but got told to stay away by the bomber.
“I saw when the two ladies came to the market, I asked one if she came to buy a phone but she did not answer me, I still followed her but she used her hand to indicate to me to stop following her, that saved my life because a few blocks away she detonated her IED,” he said.
Suspected members of Boko Haram have killed around 1,000 people since President Muhammadu Buhari took office in May, vowing to crush the group.
Suspected Boko Haram militants have carried out attacks in neighboring Chad, Niger and Cameroon in recent weeks but until Tuesday had not struck northeastern Nigeria since late October. (Reuters)
