20 killed in Gombe bomb explosion
(Nigeria) A bomb explosion at Dukku motor park area of Gombe State, has killed
no fewer than 20 people on Monday, while Boko Haram insurgents attacked another
part of the town.
The blast hit the Dukku motor park on the outskirts of Gombe
city, capital of Gombe State, at 10:50 a.m., officials said.
State secretary for the Red Cross Abubakar Yakubu Gombe said
his staff sent 20 body bags to the scene and "they have all been exhausted,
reports AFP.
"We are still looking for more bodies among the
carnage," he told AFP, adding that another 18 people with
"serious" injuries had been taken to hospital.
Most of those evacuated were taken to the Gombe State
Specialist Hospital where they are now receiving treatment from injuries
sustained in the explosion.
The attack happened as reports emerged that Boko Haram
militants had torched the town of Geidam in neighbouring Yobe state at the
weekend.
The bomb in Gombe was planted near a bus that was filling up
with passengers, said Mato Yakubu of the National Orientation Agency, a
government body responsible for the media.
The city was hit by a triple bombing blamed on the Islamists
on October 31.
The state shares a border with Borno and Yobe, two of the
states worst affected by Boko Haram's five-year insurgency which has cost more
than 13,000 lives.
The Islamists have claimed a number of attacks at bus
stations, often targeting people who are heading to Nigeria's mainly Christian
south.
Witness Awwalu Lame said a mob formed at the station shortly
after the blast went off, with locals throwing stones at the security services.
Anger has risen across northern Nigeria amid complaints that
the security services have repeatedly failed to contain the violence.
While experts agree that isolated bombings are extremely
difficult to stop, the broader military response to the extremist uprising has
been widely criticised.
- Town ransacked -
Boko Haram gunmen stormed Geidam in Yobe on Sunday, setting
fire to several buildings and forcing residents to flee to the bush, witnesses
said.
"They were chanting Allahu Akbar and firing shots and
throwing bombs," said resident Adamu Shehu.
"We spent a night in the bush but from afar we could
see in the darkness flames and smoke coming from the town," he said.
Geidam in the hometown of Yobe's governor Ibrahim Geidam and
his home was also razed, witnesses said.
The attackers rampaged late into the night and reportedly
faced no resistance from the military.
While some people fled, others locked themselves in houses
that were later torched and locals were going door-to-door to see if any lives
were lost.
"Our town is a mess," said resident Brema Umar,
who reported that scores of people had fled overnight, many towards Yobe's
capital Damaturu, 180 kilometres (110 miles) to the north.
Details of attacks in the remote region often take several
days to emerge due to the poor mobile phone network.
- Crisis worsening -
President Goodluck Jonathan, who is running for a second
term, has on several occasions claimed that Boko Haram's defeat was imminent,
even as the violence has escalated.
The insurgency has forced more than 1.5 million people from
their homes, straining resources in the embattled northeast, as communities
struggle to care for those displaced.
Underscoring the severity of the crisis, 185 people, mostly
women and children, were kidnapped on December 14 from the town of Gumsuri in
Borno.
The attack recalled the kidnapping of more than 200
schoolgirls from a school in the town of Chibok in April, a mass abduction that
Jonathan vowed would not happen again.
The president's opponent in February polls, ex-military
dictator Muhammadu Buhari from the mainly Muslim north, is seen by some as
better placed to contain the Boko Haram threat, but experts say he may struggle
to unseat an incumbent with the backing of a wealthy ruling party.
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