Five persons are reported to have died in
separate bomb attacks at the Nigeria Police Force Headquarters in Abuja
and a town in Borno State on Thursday morning.
Two persons died in a suicide bomb attack at the police headquarters which the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Hafiz Ringim, escaped by a whisker. Three children died in a separate bomb attack in Damboa, Borno State.
The IG was the target of a suspected suicide bomber, who drove behind his convoy into the headquarters of the Nigeria Police Force in Area 11 in Abuja‘s Central Business District around 10.40am.
Force spokesman, Mr. Olusola Amore, told THE PUNCH that the suicide bomber trailed the IG‘s convoy into the complex known as Louis Edet House. The bomber reportedly tried to park near the point where the IG was disembarking from his official car but was stopped by vigilant policemen.
The strange man was, however, asked to move away from the spot while a policeman was directed to escort him to the car park and search his vehicle.
Amore said the suspected suicide bomber and the policeman died when the car exploded at the parking lot, adding that an investigation had commenced into the incident.
Security sources said the attack bore the marks of outlawed Northern group, Boko Haram.
Asked to comment on the hint, Amore replied, ”Be it Boko Haram or any other criminal group, we are going to get them.”
Body parts were scattered at the scene of the explosion while the blast shook the complex and nearby buildings.
Sources said 73 vehicles were destroyed in the blast.
Firemen battled to put out the fire, which engulfed a portion of the police headquarters while the Red Cross rushed injured persons to the hospital.
A witness at Garki General Hospital said a number of ambulances brought bodies and injured persons to the hospital. The Red Cross also confirmed to Reuters that it had rushed many casualties to the hospital.
A pandemonium also ensued as policemen, civilian staff in the building as well as visitors, passers-by and occupants of nearby buildings fled to safety.
The spokesman of the National Emergency Management Agency, Yushau Shuaibu, said emergency response teams were swiftly mobilised to the scene of the explosion.
He said in an SMS, ”NEMA has successfully cordoned off the parking lot of the police headquarters. A suspected bomber died in the incident. Many vehicles were destroyed.”
Fear spread through Abuja immediately news of the blasts broke.
The police headquarters is a minute‘s drive from the gate of the Presidential Villa and three minutes drive from the National Assembly.Agence France Presse reported that Boko Haram had on Wednesday distributed a handwritten statement in Hausa to journalists in Maiduguri, in which it threatened a harsher campaign against government and civilians.
In the statement issued in the name of Jama‘atu Ahlis-sunnah lidda‘ati wal Jihad, it said, ”Dialogue with President (Goodluck) Jonathan has collapsed,” because of the statements made by the inspector general of police and governor of northern Borno state, the group said. It said it was angered by Ringim‘s declaration that ”the days of Boko Haram are numbered.”
”Very soon, we will wage jihad...We want to make it known that our jihadists have arrived in Nigeria from Somalia where they received real training on warfare from our brethren who made that country ungovernable...,” said the group in a handwritten statement.
”This time round, our attacks will be fiercer and wider than they have been,” it said, adding it would target all northern states and Abuja.
On May 29, a bomb exploded in a drinking joint in Zuba, a suburb of Abuja, leading to three deaths. On October 1, 2010, twin explosions claimed a number of lives near the Eagle Square, Abuja, where President Goodluck Jonathan and other foreign and Nigerian dignitaries were marking the Independence Day at the Eagle Square, Abuja.
There have been a number of explosions in Maduguri, the Borno State capital in North-East Nigeria and some other cities in Northern Nigeria blamed on Boko Haram. On Tuesday and Wednesday, security agents recovered explosive devices from some parts of Kaduna, the capital of Kaduna State in North-West Nigeira.
On Wednesday, there was a bomb scare in Ibadan. On June 6, while Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun was delivering a speech at the inauguration of the state house of assembly, security agents discovered a bomb in a part of the complex and swiftly detonated it.
By Agency Reporter Courtesy Of: Punch
Two persons died in a suicide bomb attack at the police headquarters which the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Hafiz Ringim, escaped by a whisker. Three children died in a separate bomb attack in Damboa, Borno State.
The IG was the target of a suspected suicide bomber, who drove behind his convoy into the headquarters of the Nigeria Police Force in Area 11 in Abuja‘s Central Business District around 10.40am.
Force spokesman, Mr. Olusola Amore, told THE PUNCH that the suicide bomber trailed the IG‘s convoy into the complex known as Louis Edet House. The bomber reportedly tried to park near the point where the IG was disembarking from his official car but was stopped by vigilant policemen.
The strange man was, however, asked to move away from the spot while a policeman was directed to escort him to the car park and search his vehicle.
Amore said the suspected suicide bomber and the policeman died when the car exploded at the parking lot, adding that an investigation had commenced into the incident.
Security sources said the attack bore the marks of outlawed Northern group, Boko Haram.
Asked to comment on the hint, Amore replied, ”Be it Boko Haram or any other criminal group, we are going to get them.”
Body parts were scattered at the scene of the explosion while the blast shook the complex and nearby buildings.
Sources said 73 vehicles were destroyed in the blast.
Firemen battled to put out the fire, which engulfed a portion of the police headquarters while the Red Cross rushed injured persons to the hospital.
A witness at Garki General Hospital said a number of ambulances brought bodies and injured persons to the hospital. The Red Cross also confirmed to Reuters that it had rushed many casualties to the hospital.
A pandemonium also ensued as policemen, civilian staff in the building as well as visitors, passers-by and occupants of nearby buildings fled to safety.
The spokesman of the National Emergency Management Agency, Yushau Shuaibu, said emergency response teams were swiftly mobilised to the scene of the explosion.
He said in an SMS, ”NEMA has successfully cordoned off the parking lot of the police headquarters. A suspected bomber died in the incident. Many vehicles were destroyed.”
Fear spread through Abuja immediately news of the blasts broke.
The police headquarters is a minute‘s drive from the gate of the Presidential Villa and three minutes drive from the National Assembly.Agence France Presse reported that Boko Haram had on Wednesday distributed a handwritten statement in Hausa to journalists in Maiduguri, in which it threatened a harsher campaign against government and civilians.
In the statement issued in the name of Jama‘atu Ahlis-sunnah lidda‘ati wal Jihad, it said, ”Dialogue with President (Goodluck) Jonathan has collapsed,” because of the statements made by the inspector general of police and governor of northern Borno state, the group said. It said it was angered by Ringim‘s declaration that ”the days of Boko Haram are numbered.”
”Very soon, we will wage jihad...We want to make it known that our jihadists have arrived in Nigeria from Somalia where they received real training on warfare from our brethren who made that country ungovernable...,” said the group in a handwritten statement.
”This time round, our attacks will be fiercer and wider than they have been,” it said, adding it would target all northern states and Abuja.
On May 29, a bomb exploded in a drinking joint in Zuba, a suburb of Abuja, leading to three deaths. On October 1, 2010, twin explosions claimed a number of lives near the Eagle Square, Abuja, where President Goodluck Jonathan and other foreign and Nigerian dignitaries were marking the Independence Day at the Eagle Square, Abuja.
There have been a number of explosions in Maduguri, the Borno State capital in North-East Nigeria and some other cities in Northern Nigeria blamed on Boko Haram. On Tuesday and Wednesday, security agents recovered explosive devices from some parts of Kaduna, the capital of Kaduna State in North-West Nigeira.
On Wednesday, there was a bomb scare in Ibadan. On June 6, while Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun was delivering a speech at the inauguration of the state house of assembly, security agents discovered a bomb in a part of the complex and swiftly detonated it.
By Agency Reporter Courtesy Of: Punch
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