The death toll in Wednesday's bombing in Kaduna has risen to 82 as
insurgents attempted to kill former head of state, General Muhammadu
Buhari (rtd) and an Islamic cleric, Sheikh Dahiru Bauchi, who both
escaped unhurt, Vanguard reports.
There were two bomb blasts which happened in the space of two hours.
Police said 25 people were killed in the first blast, but eyewitnesses
told newsmen that about 40 died in the blast. Not less than 50 people
were also reported to have died in the second bomb attack suspected to
have been perpetrated by Islamist sect Boko Haram.
Buhari had announced the attempt on his life in a statement he issued
immediately after the incident, where he narrated how the suicide
bomber tried to carry out the deadly assignment.
The first bomb attack took place on Isa Kaita Road, off Ali Akilu road
around 12:30pm, yesterday, when the convoy of Sheikh Dahiru Bauchi was
returning home after a Ramadan Tafsir sermon. Bauchi had about three
weeks ago escaped a bomb attack near his home in Eskolia quarters of
Kaduna.
The second blast took place around 2:30pm, about two kilometres away
from the scene of the first blast at the busy over-head bridge at Kawo
part of Kaduna town as Buhari was making his way out of town.
Speaking to newsmen at the scene of the first attack, Kaduna State
Police Commissioner, Umar Shehu said: "All I can say is that the
Kaduna State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) and Road Safety Corps
have told me that they recovered 25 corpses from this place. But you
can see that we still have some human remains here. I cannot tell you
the number of those injured at this point. That is all I can say".
An eyewitness, Isa Saidu, 23, who spoke to newsmen however said he
counted 41 bodies following the blast.
"I was at the Murtala Mohammed Square where Sheikh Dahiru preached to
us. I was also in the convoy conveying him back home. It was a long
convoy. Suddenly, I saw a man on a motorcycle carrying a sack or bag.
He was driving very recklessly and defied the instructions of our
security guard, who attempted to make him slow down. He then tried to
come close to the car conveying the Sheikh but the security did not
allow him," he said.
"As he persisted, they pushed him off the road and he fell into a
ditch, while the bomb device he was carrying exploded. I don't want to
say what happened.
Sheikh Dahiru Bauchi's body was covered with blood, but it was the
blood of those who were protecting him. I can swear by Allah that I
personally counted 41 bodies. It is the most terrible thing of my
life."
An eyewitness of the second blast, who is also an aide to Buhari in
his account said a man in a Sienna car had trailed the convoy of
General Buhari from where it took off.
"The car overtook other cars and came very close to the SUV in which
the General was. His security details tried to get in-between, then
the Sienna car exploded.
"The security men's car was destroyed, and the three men were severely
injured. The General's car was damaged badly, but because it was
bullet-proof, he came out unhurt, and was transferred to another car
and taken away," he said.
Although a reported said not less than 50 people died at the scene, CP
Umar Shehu said after visiting the scene "I am told that 14 people
were killed and four were injured. I am told that a VIP car was
affected, but I am yet to confirm to you. I shall update you in time".
Kaduna State Governor, Alhaji Mukhtar Ramalan Yero, in response to the
attacks imposed a 24-hour curfew on Kaduna town after the blasts.
In a statement signed by his Director-General, Media and Publicity,
Mallam Ahmed Maiyaki, the governor said the blasts were clear
manifestations of the resolve by 'agents of darkness' to soak the land
with the blood of innocent people for no just cause.
"Enemies of peace have visited us with their ungodly venom of wanton
destruction of human lives.
"This blast, coming in the Holy Month of Ramadan is a clear indication
that those behind the act have no iota of fear of God, as they have
none for the sanctity of human life,"Yero said.
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