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Multiple Explosions Rock Kano
Written by Olawale Rasheed, Kola Oyelere and Kolawole Daniel With Agency Reports Saturday, 21 January 2012
A British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) correspondent in the ancient city said one of the blasts hit the state police command headquarters and two other police stations.
No one had claimed responsibility for the attacks by press times though the Boko Haram sect, had been linked to a recent spate of violence in the North.
Another account claimed that a suicide bomber in a Volks Wagon Golf car, with Lagos registration plate number, crashed into Zone One Police headquarters, killing himself and three policemen while several others were injured.
The suicide bomber reportedly arrived the premises at about 5.30 pm, rammed on the policemen on guard at the entrance of the complex as they tried to halt him for a routine check.
He also crashed through the gate into vehicles parked beside the main building, leading to an explosion.
The blast shattered the main and joining buildings, particularly the roofs, windows and doors,as well as office furniture , some of which were outrightly destroyed.
Enechi Okongwu, a Channels TV reporter was said to be among the victims of the multiple bombings.
The Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG), who said to be in his office at the time, reportedly, escaped unhurt and driven away to undisclosed location, while most policemen who survived the attack were seen at the premises covered with dust from the rubbles, while the dismembered body of the suicide bomb attack littered the premises.
In a related development, a number of other police stations and Immigration office in the city were also attacked by the gunmen.
However the security operatives have been drafted to all major streets in the state with people staying indoor to avert being killed.
According to reports, there was also a shoot-out at the police headoffice in the eastern part of the city.
The reports added that the blasts targeted different neighbourhoods such as the state Police Command headquarters in the west of the city, one police station in the centre and another police station in the South.
A reporter of the Associated Press (AP) news agency said one of the explosions was powerful enough to shake his car several miles away from the blast.
The number of casualties was hazy last night, though a report said a Customs trainee, who had gone to the Police Command headquarters to collect his clothes from a tailor, was seriously affected by one of the blasts.
His head was torn, though he did not die and was rushed to the Customs Training Ground in Kano for urgent medical attention.
A resident of the sharada area of the ancient city claimed to have heard sporadic gunfire apparently between security agents and suspected Boko Haram insurgents.
Another resident around airport area said, “I heard two blasts, one at 6 p.m and another after 15 minutes“.
Another claimed to have witnessed three masked gunmen attacking the Immigrations Office at Farm Centre area, allegedly leaving three officials dead.
The bombings of the commercial town marked a dangerous escalation in the Boko Haram insurgency and followed three separate letters written to the state government, the Emir of Kano and Islamic scholars in the last four months,
The sect had in the second letter warned security agencies against ongoing arrests and incarceration of residents suspected to belong to the sect, but promised not to attack Kano then because of the intervention of some eminent Islamic scholars in the city.
The third letter, which came early this year, was said to have raised the same issue of harassment by security agents who were said to be working hard to ensure that the sect did not infiltrate Kano.
The last letter, which reportedly circulated very well among Islamic scholars, was said to have described the letter as the last warning after which it threatened not to listen to the intervention of the scholars.
The letter was said to have boasted that it had enough men on ground in the city to launch attacks despite the activities of the security operatives.
Saturday Tribune learnt that the state government and Islamic scholars could, however, not stop the security agencies from the combing operations, because there were reports that the agents of the sect were shifting base from Maiduguri to Kano.
A security source confirmed to Saturday Tribune that their operation was to ensure that the sect was not entrenched in the usually volatile city.
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