Kano terror attacks: NEMA confirms 19 dead; Buhari urges vigilance; as U.S denounces ‘callous terrorist acts’
The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has confirmed 19 fatalities from Wednesday’s twin suicide bomb attacks at the Farm Centre, a popular mobile phone market in Kano city, just as it said over 100 people received various degree of injuries in the attack which occurred in the afternoon.
Two female suicide bombers blew themselves up at the market in Kano Wednesday afternoon, a day after a similar attack in the Jimeta district of Yola in Adamawa Statew left over 32 people dead with about 80 wounded.
NEMA also said the attacks bore the trademarks of Boko Haram, suggesting that the militant Islamist group, which has killed thousands over the last six years in its bid to create a state adhering to strict Sharia or Islamic law in the northeast, is stepping up its operations.
“Over 100 persons injured and 19 others lost their lives in today’s market bomb blast in Kano,” said Sani Datti, a spokesman for the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).
It would be recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari, through his Special Assistant on Media, Garba Shehu, assured Nigerians’ that his administration is very much determined to wipe out Boko Haram in Nigeria and bring all perpetrators of this heinous crime against humanity to justice.”
The statement by Garba Shehu also said: “Buhari urged vigilance to help ward off suicide terror attacks on ‘soft targets’, adding that Nigeria’s ‘reinvigorated, well-equipped and well-motivated armed forces and security agencies’ would overcome Boko Haram very soon.
Also reacting, in Washington, the State Department condemned ‘horrific’ bombings in the northern towns of Yola and Kano in recent days, and said the United States was committed to working with Nigeria and its neighbours to defeat Boko Haram.
“We denounce the callous terrorist acts,” spokesman John Kirby said, adding: “Those responsible for these crimes must be held accountable.”
