Suicide bombers on Thursday attacked Jos, the Plateau State capital and Biu in Borno State and killed 27 people and injured many people.In the Biu attack, 15 persons were killed, while 12 people lost their lives in the twin blasts at Jos.
According to an eyewitness, the suicide bomber detonated the bomb in front of one of the Filling Stations in Biu, a town that is about 160 kilometres from Maiduguri, the birthplace of Boko Haram insurgency.
He said, “The suicide bomber was few metres away from a petrol filling station when the bomb on him detonated, killing him and 14 other persons in the vicinity.”
The Biu resident, who spoke to one of our correspondents on the telephone from Biu, said the suicide bomber rode a tricycle which he parked near the filling station.
“He parked the tricycle some metres away from the petrol station and was working in the direction of the filling station. But the bomb detonated and killed 10 persons and injured many others before he could get to the station. Thank God that the bomb detonated before he could get to the fuel station, the casuality figure could have been higher.
“The corpses have been evacuated to the General Hospital, Biu where the injured have also be taken to for treatment.”
In the Jos attack, no fewer than 12 people were killed and scores of others wounded as two separate blasts that rocked in the city on Thursday.
One of our correspondents learnt that the first bomb went off at a motor park adjacent to the Bauchi Road campus of the University of Jos at about 4.30 pm, while the second one went off almost simultaneously in front of the UNIJOS gate.
It was learnt that the second was targeted at the students who were just trooping out of the school after the day’s examinations.
The students resumed on Monday and started their second semester examination after the school was closed down in November last year following a protest.
Most of the victims were said to be taking cover to avoid a downpour, which started at about 3.45 pm, the first in the city of Jos this year. Another source said that the blast at the Bauchi motor park was carried out by a female suicide bomber, who entered the park wearing a hijab.
The Executive President of Stefanos Foundation, Mr. Mark Lipdo, quoting security source, put the casualty figure at 12, but a student of the school, who simply identified herself as Grace, said that the figure could be higher.
According to her, when the bomb exploded, there was confusion on the campus. There was also traffic jam along the busy Bauch; road as motorists make hurried U-turn to escape from the melee.
She said, “Because it was raining, everybody was trying to take shield and so nobody noticed the bomber.”
A source told one of our correspondents that he saw Hilux vehicles carrying some persons to the Bingham University Teaching Hospital, Jos.
The blasts created tension in the town as security men blocked most of the roads in the city to start a cordon and search operation.
Both the spokesmen for the Special Task Force, Capt. Ikedichi Iweha, and the police, DSP Emmanuel Abuh, confirmed the blast.
They said that security men were still assessing the situation as both the dead and the injured were being conveyed to hospital.
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