Explosion near bus station in Gombe kills 5.

An explosion near a bus station in the
northeast Nigerian city of Gombe killed at least
five and injured 15 others, witnesses told AFP
on Thursday, in an attack that bore the
hallmarks of Boko Haram.
“We had an explosion outside the motor park
(bus station) this evening around 8:30 pm
(1930 GMT) which killed five people and
injured 15 others,” said Muhammad Garkuwa,
a drivers’ union official.
“The explosion was from an explosive left by a
woman in her handbag beside a bus waiting
to convey passengers to Jos,” he said in an
account supported by a nearby food seller.
The attack is the latest in a string of similar
explosions against so-called “soft targets”
such as busy bus stations and crowded
markets in the restive northeast, which has
been hit for the last six years by Boko Haram
Islamists.
The group has been pushed out of captured
territory in Yobe, Borno and Adamawa states
since February by a four-nation coalition of
troops from Nigeria, Niger, Chad and
Cameroon.
Since then, the group has reverted to guerrilla
tactics, including suicide bombings and
attacks on civilians in urban centres.
Garkuwa said he loaded the casualties into a
vehicle while Yusuf Darazo, who sells food
near the bus station, said the female suspect
left her bag after being told the bus’s
destination.
“No-one suspected her. People around
assumed she was making calls before the bus
filled up,” he said.
“As she was talking in the phone she moved
away from the bus towards a row of kiosks, as
if she wanted to buy something, leaving her
bag where she was standing.
“She disappeared and the bag exploded soon
after, setting the bus on fire. I saw five dead
and several injured.”
Boko Haram fighters were suspected at the
weekend of attacking a number of polling
stations in Gombe state as Nigerians went to
the polls to elect a new president.
At least seven people were killed and there
was a wave of attacks on Saturday and
Sunday in neighbouring Bauchi state,
prompting a an indefinite round-the-clock
curfew, including in the capital, Bauchi city.
The lock-down has now been lifted.
Residents in Kasheri, about 60 kilometres (40
miles) from Gombe city, and nearby Pindiga
and Tumu, reported seeing suspected Boko
Haram fighters and that they were firing in the
air.
Some were barefoot and appeared
disorientated, asking for directions, they
added.
Nigeria’s military insists that it finally has Boko
Haram in the run, after more than 13,000
people have been killed and some 1.5 million
left homeless.
President-elect Muhammadu Buhari on
Wednesday vowed to crush Boko Haram,
vowing to rid Nigeria of the scourge of
“terrorism”.

Vanguard News.