Explosion Rocks Kano!

 

As critiscisms continued to greet Wednesday’s twin bombings in Kaduna metropolis, an Improvised Explosive Device went off at the New Road Motor Park in Kano on Thursday.

But unlike the Kaduna blasts, which death toll has risen from 70 to 75, five persons died and eight were injured in the latest Kano incident. Some vehicles in the park were also damaged.

The Kano explosion led to a stampede as people struggled to leave the scene where 70 lives were lost in a similar blast last year.

The PUNCH gathered   the IED was conveyed in a refrigerator which was smuggled into the park by a cart pusher.

Eyewitness accounts indicated that the cart pusher was able to beat security at the motor gate because he packaged the refrigerator like a passenger luggage.

Kano State Commissioner of Police, Adelenre Shinaba, confirmed to   journalists at the scene that   five persons, including a woman, lost their lives to the blast.

Adding that   ‘‘eight others who were injured were taken to hospital for treatment,” he explained that the expolosive “went off at the point of loading the refrigerator to in a stationary vehicle.”

In Kaduna,   the state Commissioner for Information and Chieftaincy Affairs, Ben Bako, told journalists that five injured victims of the Kaduna explosions died on Wednesday night in hospitals where they were admitted.

“We have 37 victims currently receiving treatment in both the 44 Army Reference Hospital and the Yusuf Dantsoho General Hospital, Tudun-wada, also in Kaduna. Thirty five victims are at the 44 Army Reference Hospital while two   are at the Yusuf Dantsoho Hospital,” Bako said.

US, Canada condemn Kaduna bombings

US and Canada, in two separate statements on Thursday, called on the Federal Government to investigate the explosions.

The US statement read, “We are also concerned by reports that these blasts may have also targeted a former Head of State, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari.

“We extend our sympathies to the loved ones of the dead victims . We call on Nigerian authorities to fully investigate these attacks, and we urge all Nigerians to avoid reprisals and continue to practise the interfaith cooperation that violent extremists seek to undermine.”

The Canadian government described the blasts as cowardly and urged that the perpetrators be brought to justice.

It said, “Canada condemns in the strongest terms the two terrorist attacks in Nigeria’s Kaduna region, which killed   innocent victims.

“These cowardly acts took place on one of the most important nights of Ramadan, and reports are that one of the bombs targeted a former Nigerian leader, Maj.Gen. Buhari.

“On behalf of all Canadians, I call for a swift justice for the perpetrators of this violence and offer our sincere condolences to the families and friends of the victims.”