Nigeria: Scores Killed in Gombe Bomb Blast

At least 20 people have been reportedly killed in a bombing at a bus station in Gombe, capital of Gombe State on Monday.

Emergency workers said body that parts of victims lay scattered across the scene after the explosion near a bus filled with passengers.

A Red Cross official, Abubakar Adamu Gombe, told the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Hausa Service that he expected the number of people killed by the explosion to rise.

He said 18 people were rushed to hospital with serious injuries.

A government official, Mato Yakubu, said the blast occurred at 10:50 a.m. as people were boarding a nearby bus at the Dukku Bus Park, AFP News Agency reported.

Militant Islamist group, Boko Haram, had been waging war in the area.

However, the spokesman for the Gombe State Police Command, Fwaji Atajiri, confirmed that 19 people were killed in the bomb blast that rocked Duku Bus Park located in the heart of Gombe town.

Atajiri also said 25 others were receiving treatment at the two government hospitals in Gombe town.

On how the injured were being treated in view of the present nationwide strike by health workers in the country, the spokesman said "the senior staff at the two hospitals are doing a great job" in the rescue mission.

Atajiri revealed that the blast was concealed and brought into the park by a suspected terrorist.

He also said the Gombe police command was mapping out strategy to contain the growing cases of bomb explosions in the state and called on the people of the state to assist security agencies in the fight against terrorism, not just in the state but in the country as a whole.

The police spokesman also said no arrest had been made, but stressed that investigation had commenced.

An eyewitness had earlier told Channels Television that the explosion left at least 22 people dead.

The eyewitness said a woman brought the explosive devices concealed in a bag and went off shortly after her arrival in a Sharon bus.

Duku Motor Park is a major garage in Gombe where travellers board vehicles and cars to various states and towns within the North- East.

He also said two cars were totally burnt while several others were destroyed at the scene.

Gombe is gradually becoming a soft spot for terrorists.

In October, a similar attack at the Gombe Line terminus left several passengers dead. The bomb was concealed in a Yobe Line motor.

Few weeks after that attack, a suicide bomber was arrested with explosive devices at the park with the intention of blowing off innocent passengers.

Meanwhile, a video purportedly released by the group showed dozen of people being executed at a school dormitory after they were made to lay face down.

There is no independent confirmation that Boko Haram produced the video. It is unclear where or when it was shot.

But the video bears Boko Haram's insignia and shows gun-wielding men chanting "Allah is great" and speaking in the Kanuri language associated with the group's fighters, said a BBC Nigeria analyst, Jimeh Saleh.

Militants from Boko Haram, which means "Western education is forbidden", often attacked educational establishments.

At least three people were killed in a bomb attack at another bus station in Gombe city on October 31.

Gombe State shares a border with Adamawa, Borno and Yobe, the three states worst-affected by the insurgency and which have been under emergency rule since last year.

However, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Monday re-echoed its belief that the current wave of insecurity in the country caused by the Boko Haram insurgents has the backing of All Progressives Congress (APC).

Olisa Metuh, National Publicity Secretary of the PDP in a statement also accused the Presidential candidate of the APC of not being a statesman but mere a man desperate for power.

The party said Nigerians can't forget in a hurry "the body language and inciting utterances of APC leaders, including their Presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari, which have served as fuel to the raging flame of terrorism."

He accused the APC leadership of trying to blackmail President Goodluck Jonathan with a view to winning people's confidence and sympathy as the general election draws nearer.

He insisted that "no amount of blackmail and wild allegations against President Goodluck Jonathan can exonerate the All Progressives Congress (APC) of blame for insurgency and wave of violence ravaging in some northern states of the country".

The PDP said by going to the international media recently to distance themselves from complicity and in turning round to blame the PDP, "the APC is asking Nigerians to suddenly grow forgetful of the barrage of statements by their leaders that promoted insurgency in the country."

The party observed that "whereas a statesmanly statement from a person of General Buhari's age and status could have helped douse the tension in the land, the APC flag bearer chose incendiary remarks, which emboldened insurgents, apparently in keeping with the agenda of his party to achieve political control through violence."

The PDP compared the attitude of APC leaders on insurgency to the metaphor of a young man sent on a criminal mission by the father, whose boldness knows no bounds.

"Nigerians have not forgotten the spontaneous violence and mayhem on innocent citizens following inciting statements by Buhari and other APC leaders then in the defunct CPC, upon losing the 2011 presidential election.

"The APC leaders have so far left no Nigerian in doubt of their party's violent disposition as General Buhari in May 2012, remorselessly stated that 'the monkey and baboon will be soaked in blood' should he lose the 2015 presidential election," the PDP stated.

But the Senate President, David Mark, has said that one best approach to end the reign of insurgency and the onslaught of Boko Haram on Nigerians is to unmask their sponsors within and outside the country.

Mark implored community leaders and citizens alike to collaborate with security operatives in order to fish out the financiers of the criminals forthwith.

The Senate president who spoke after decorating his Aide-camp (ADC), Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP), Abel Miri, with his new rank of Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) in Abuja on Monday urged security operatives to bring their intellect and investigative skills to bear in discovering those behind the insurgency.

"The unabating situation demands extra-ordinary measures to handle. All of us, irrespective of status must be alert to our responsibilities. Let us rise as one people faced with a common problem to say no to these harbingers of death. Let's come together and work hard to free ourselves.

"All Nigerians must see these terrorists as a threat to our existence. Nobody should sit on the fence any more. It is a choice we have to make in chasing these terrorists away or wait to be consumed by them. This is not about politics, religion or ethnicity. It is about our survival as a nation," Mark stated.

In another development, no fewer than three soldiers attached to the Joint Task Force (JTF) in the Niger Delta code-named 'Operation Pulo Shield' at the weekend fell to the bullets of gunmen suspected to be pirates along the waterways of Bayelsa State.

Sources said the pirates also hijacked the military gunboat occupied by the victims after killing them at about 4 p.m. on Sunday.

It was gathered that the soldiers were ambushed and killed at Santa Barbara River in Nembe, Nembe Local Government Area of the state.

The victims were said to be escorting items to Brass terminal owned by NAOC when the gunmen opened fire on them.

A security source said the soldiers were sailing from Port Harcourt, Rivers State, to Brass in Bayelsa State, when they came under brutal attack of the gunmen.

"They were ambushed by deadly pirates. It is suspected that the gunmen hijacked the gunboat, later killed the soldiers and threw their dead bodies into the water or they shot and pushed them into the water before stealing the gunboat," the source who did not want to be named said.

"The gunboat appears to be the target of the hoodlums especially as arms are being stockpiled by militants for 2015. The Santa Barbara where the incident occurred is in Nembe and is notorious for piracy,"he added.

But the Joint Task Force (JTF), Operation Pulo Shield, believed that the soldiers were not dead but missing.

The outgoing spokesman of the security outfit, Col. Mustapha Anka, confirmed the attack but said it was premature to conclude that the soldiers were killed by the pirates.

He said the outfit had activated its search-and-rescue team, adding that frantic efforts were being made to locate the whereabouts of the soldiers.

Source http://allafrica.com/stories/201412230374.html