five killed in Bauchi bus station blast.

Five killed in Bauchi bus station blast


Ctober 23, 2014
Vanguard News.


A bomb blast at a bus station in a north
Nigeria area previously targeted by Boko
Haram killed five people, police said Thursday,
in what appeared to be the latest crack in the
government’s purported ceasefire with the
Islamists.
Police in Bauchi state confirmed overnight
witness reports of a huge explosion at the
terminal in the town of Azare at 9:45 pm (2045
GMT).
Area resident Musa Babale said the blast
“shook buildings” and sent locals rushing for
shelter.
“The whole place was a mess,” he told AFP
after visiting the site late Wednesday.
Bauchi police spokesman Mohammed Haruna
said the bomb killed five people, leaving them
“burnt beyond recognition,” and that 12 others
were injured.
Several witnesses said they believed the bomb
had been embedded in a parked car and was
detonated remotely, but police did not give
details on the nature of the explosive device.
While there was no immediate claim of
responsibility, Bauchi has been one of the
hardest hit areas in Boko Haram’s five-year
uprising against the Nigerian state.
Bus station bombings have also become
something of a hallmark for the insurgent
group after twin attacks at a terminal on the
outskirts of the capital Abuja earlier this year
killed nearly 100 people.
The station in Azare, a town roughly 200
kilometres (125 miles) from the state capital
Bauchi city, is a widely used transit point by
travellers coming from Nigeria’s embattled
northeast, which has been under a state of
emergency since May of last year.
– Previous target –
Babale said locals were fortunate the blast
went off later at night, as the Azare station is
packed with commuters earlier in the evening
and the toll could could have been much
higher.
Azare saw a series of attacks blamed on Boko
Haram through 2012, while Bauchi has been
consistently targeted throughout the uprising,
including through church bombings,
coordinated gun raids and notably a massive
prison raid in 2011.
Any indication that the latest explosion was
tied to Boko Haram will further undermine the
government’s claim to have negotiated a
ceasefire with the extremist group.
The surprise deal was announced by the
presidency and military on Friday but there are
already strong signs that the pact was hollow.
Violence raged through the weekend in the
northeast and the credibility of the so-called
Boko Haram negotiator has been widely
questioned.
A top aide to President Goodluck Jonathan
also said the Islamists had agreed to release
the 219 schoolgirls held hostage since their
April 14 abduction in the northeast town of
Chibok.
Like with the ceasefire, there has so far been
no sign that the hostage release deal is
legitimate.
Nigerian negotiators were reportedly set to
resume talks with Boko Haram envoys in
neighbouring Chad next week, but further
questions will likely be asked about the
identities of the so-called rebel negotiators.
Boko Haram, which wants to create an Islamic
state in mainly Muslim northern Nigeria, is a
fractured group with an unclear command
structure.
Analysts doubt that the individuals in talks with
Nigeria have the influence to enforce a blanket
ceasefire.