A suicide bomber has killed at least 30 people and injured about 80 others in a procession of Shia Muslims marking the ceremony of Ashura in Potiskum, north-eastern Nigeria.
In the suicide bombing in Potiskum, Yobe state, a territory at the heart of an insurgency by the Boko Haram rebels, the attacker joined the line of Shias before setting off his device as they marched through a market, a resident, Yusuf Abdullahi, said.
“I heard a very heavy explosion as if it happened in my room. It took place just 200 metres from my house,” he said. Another person carrying an explosive that did not go off was arrested, he added.
Mohammed Gana, whose brother was killed in the attack, said he counted 23 bodies at the scene. Another Potiskum resident, Abubakar Saliu, said soldiers started shooting immediately after the explosion, but it was not clear who they fired at or if anyone was hit by the gunfire.
The Executive Secretary of Yobe Hospital, Dr Mamman Mohammed, has confirmed that 30 people had died in Monday’s bomb attack in Potiskum, in the latest escalation of the insurgency in the northeast of Nigeria.He told Gov. Ibrahim Gaidam, who paid a visit to the victims at the Potiskum General Hospital on Tuesday that some of the victims suffering from severe injuries had been referred to tertiary health institutions in Azare and Nguru.
Gaidam directed that free treatment be given to the victims, promising that the government will pay all the medical bills including for those referred to other hospitals outside the state.
He also condoled with the Shiite group on the death of their members.
Ashura marks the martyrdom at the Battle of Karbala more than 1,300 years ago of the prophet Muhammad’s grandson, Hussein (A).
Boko Haram’s five-year campaign for an Islamic state, which has killed thousands, is seen as the main security threat to Nigeria, Africa’s biggest economy and its leading oil producer.
Leader of the Shiite Islamic Movement in Nigeria, Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky had on Sunday alerted on grand plan to infiltrate and attack the Ashura procession by the Nigerian security.
Ameer of the Movement in Potiskum, Malam Mustapha Lawan Nasidi, told the BBC Hausa that, the bomb was targeted at the procession, and exploded when people were dispersing and innocent mourners were killed and many sustained injuries.
To worsen the situation, he said, soldiers arrived the scene and opened fire on the already aggrieved and bereaved mourners. “We hold the Nigerian military and government accountable. They openly killed our brothers and sisters. Bombs are properties of security operatives, and not civilians. Why don’t they investigate trademark bombs that explode in this country to ascertain where it comes from? Because they know it is their handiwork, or their agents’. We hold them responsible”, said Nasidi.
No official of the Nigerian government, or its security outfit had made any statement on the incident.
It would be recalled that soldiers had killed 34 members of the Islamic Movement, including 3 biological son of Sheikh Zakzaky, during Quds Day procession on July 25, this year.
It is said that 25 of them are victims of the bomb blast while 5 were shot martyred by the Nigerian soldiers who opened fire on people, just after the blast, at area close to the Center (Markaz) of the Islamic Movement. in both cases over 80 were injured at various degrees.
It should be noted that among those who were martyred by bomb blast 16 are children. Below are pictures of Ashura procession in Potiskum. Mallam Mustafa gave the closing speech and prayers.
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