82 dead after two bombs explode in Nigeria

At least 82 people were killed on Wednesday by the detonation of two bombs on two streets in the city of Kaduna, a city north of Nigeria; as reported by local authorities and medical sources told Reuters. The first device has exploded – over two p.m. Pacific Time – the convoy of a Muslim sheik while the second was aimed at an opposition leader, says the BBC. Although no group has claimed responsibility for the attacks, the modus operandi and objectives of the attacks point to the Islamist militia Boko Haram, which maintains a violent insurgency for months. The governor of Kaduna imposed a curfew of 24 hours.

The first explosion had targeted a known Muslim cleric, Sheikh Dahiru Bauchi. At least 32 people have died, local sources have told Reuters. The imam, who survived the attack, had finished a speech at the Murtala Mohammed Square. This religious leader is known for his opposition to the radical Islamist group Boko Haram. The blast zone, very close to the busy Murtala Square was cordoned off by the police and the emergency services who had to deal with and move dozens injured.

About 90 minutes later, a second explosion near a busy market in the city has caused at least 50 deaths; according to Red Cross sources cited by Reuters. This ” suicide attack ” occurred in the neighborhood of Kawo, a few miles from the point where the first device was detonated. The BBC noted that the outbreak occurred near the passage of the motorcycle escort the General Mohamed Buhari, who took power in the land between January 1984 and August 1985 and who now leads an opposition party.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks, although the area and attack model resembles with previous committed by the militia Boko Haram, particularly active in areas of northern Nigeria. The group usually attacks leaders and Muslim clerics who criticize his Salafi ideology. In the case of Sheikh Dahiru Bauchi, the military accused him of betraying the Islamic faith to accept the authority of secular government, headed by Christian Goodluck Jonathan since 2010.

Islamist sect militants seized control of the town of Damboa, in the northern state of Borno, and besieged several villages near the weekend, in a series of raids which ended with at least 50 dead. The state of Kaduna last month and suffered two simultaneous attacks in separate locations that caused a total of 38 dead. On that occasion, the locations were raided and Kabamu Ankpon, where two groups of armed men opened fire killing 21 people and 17 people respectively.

The violence of Boko Haram has led the Government to maintain the state of emergency in the northern states of Borno, Adawama and Yobe since May 2013. Boko Haram, which means in Hausa language ” non- Islamic education is a sin “, struggle to impose an Islamic state in Nigeria, a country with a Muslim majority in the north and predominantly Christian south. The military intensified its terrorist campaign in 2009, when police killed the founder of the sect, Mohammed Yusuf. So far this year, the Islamist group has killed nearly 3,000 people, more than 12,000 since 2009, according to estimates by the Nigerian government. The actions of Boko Haram splashed the front pages of international media hijacked in April when about two hundred students in a boarding school Chibok in Borno state.

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Posted by Abdul Basit Abbasi on Jul 26 2014. Filed under World. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.