Many Feared Dead As Multiple Blasts Rock Kano

More than twenty fun seekers were feared dead and many injured, Monday night, in the multiple blasts that occurred at in the Sabon Gari area in Kano.

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The Sabon Gari area of Kano, where these four blasts were reported, is full out of outdoor bars and eateries and known for its bustling nightlife.
According to reports, the first blast occurred at  about 9:12 p.m. at Enugu/Igbo Road near International Hotel, while the second blast followed three minutes later, at exactly 9:15 P.M.
One witness said that one of the blasts appeared to come from a Mercedes-Benz parked next to a kiosk selling alcohol and soft drinks.


"After the first bomb, I threw myself into the canal (drain) to hide. There were at least three blasts,'' Kolade Ade said.
The Spokesman of the Joint Task Force, Captain Ikedichi Iweha confirmed the blasts, and warned residents to remain calm as heavily armed security operatives have cordoned off the area as at the time of filling this report.
“We have had some explosions in Sabon Gari this evening. The explosions happened at open air beer parlours, where people were playing snooker,” Kano State Police Commissioner Musa Daura said.
The explosions were followed by gunshots, Daura said, according to a news alert sent by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
“I can confirm six dead and six others injured,” he said, adding that the cause of the blasts was not immediately clear.
“There is confusion all over the place,” said Chinyere Madu, a fruit vendor. “There were four huge explosions, so huge that they shook the whole area. Everywhere is enveloped in smoke and dust.”
She said the scene was too chaotic to assess the extent of the damage, but said she “saw one person carrying someone on his shoulders with bleeding legs.”
“My house is not far from there,” resident, Kola Oyebanji said. “All my windows are shattered.”
Other residents said that a small church sandwiched between two bars had been among the targets.
The blame was likely to fall on Boko Haram, the Islamist insurgent group which says it is fighting to create an Islamic state in Nigeria’s mainly north.
The group, which has carried out waves of bombings across northern Nigeria, has been blamed for coordinated suicide blasts at a bus park in Sabon Gari in March that killed at least 41 people.
Kano has been among the cities hardest hit during the Boko Haram’s insurgency, even if in recent months it had seen a lull in attacks. It is the largest city in Nigeria's mainly Muslim north, but Sabon Gari is a mostly Christian neighbourhood.
The explosions raised fears among the city's mainly Muslim population, who usually go out for midnight prayers during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
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