Abuja Bombed Again

18 feared killed in explosion in traffic opposite site of recent blast

Barely two weeks after Nyanya bus terminal in Abuja, was bombed, another explosion last night, rocked the area, killing about 18 persons and destroying vehicles. Scores were also injured.
A massive bomb had exploded at the popular Nyanya motor park at about 6.55am on April 14, 2014, killing more than 100 people, who were there to board buses to their various destinations at the Abuja city centre.


Daily Sun gathered that last night’s terror attack occurred when a car laden with bomb exploded at about 8pm in traffic occasioned by security checks on the Nyanya Road, about 20 metres away from the scene of the previous bomb blast. The driver and other occupants of the car were said to have disembarked and ran into the bush before the explosion occurred.  The explosion had affected other vehicles whose occupants were taken unawares.

A Civil Defence officer told our reporter that he counted about nine dead bodies after the explosion. He also revealed that the injured had been taken to the Asokoro General Hospital and Nyanya General Hospital for treatment. Security operatives, who include police, army, Civil Defence and NEMA cordoned off bombed area last night, while two unexploded bombs were recovered.
Daily Sun gathered that two young men were arrested by the security men and taken away for interrogation.

The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Dahiru Abubakar, who visited the scene shortly after the blast, expressed sadness. Security personnel and men from the fire service, battled to put out the fire at the scene of the blast, while traffic into Nyanyan, Mararaba, Ado and Keffi, among other satellite towns in the area, was diverted to Karu, as security operatives barricaded the road leading to the scene of the incident.

The situation caused heavy traffic in the area, as some workers, who had gone to town to celebrate the May Day rally were trapped in traffic. Some of the victims, who survived the blast, told Daily Sun that they were just standing not too far from where the first bomb exploded.

One of them stated: “I fell on the ground immediately after the blast and recovered a few minutes later and started looking for my brother with whom I was standing, only to find him lying on the ground with blood all over him. “I cried for help and people came to our aid. They put my brother in a vehicle and took him to the hospital.”

It will be recalled that a devastating bomb blast rocked Nyanya on April 14, 2014, killing close to 100 people. The bomb blast, which occurred at about 6.55am, as workers and others were going to their duty posts, rocked no fewer than 15 luxury buses, 60, commercial vehicles, 40 private cars and over 100 commercial motorcycles.

On the day of April 14 bombing, human flesh, blood, clothes, identity cards, photographs, mobile telephone mobile phones and credentials, among other property, littered the bombed motor park. Our reporter who lives about one kilometre from the blast scene, had narrated in pain that there were mangled bodies, some ripped in two, and the frantic efforts by sympathisers to give aide to the victims of the April 14 blast.

He also revealed that the bulk of the rescue and assistance was by the men of the Civil Defence, who were there before other agencies for the evacuation of bodies. At the time of the attack, the bus terminal was brimming with workers queuing to board the high-capacity buses. An eyewitness and one of the surviving luxury bus drivers, Monday Ishiaku, said the first bus had about 47 passengers, the second about 59 passengers, while a Marcopolo bus had 50 occupants at the time of the incident.

“Some people in the first bus might not have died because we had transferred them to another bus and taken them to the hospital. We took them to the Nyanya General Hospital. But when I reached the hospital, they told me that they sent some of them to other hospitals around,” he said. Ishiaku also said that the suspected perpetrator had arrived early in the morning in a red Volkswagen Golf car, parked the car and disappeared into the crowd. A few minutes after that, there was a loud blast, which reduced the car to rubble and dug a deep ditch at the spot.

The vibration caused by the bomb spread far to locations over three kilometres away, as reported by residents. Speaking on the April 14 blasts, the Police Force Public Relations Officer, Mr. Frank Mba, who addressed journalists after the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Mohammed Abubakar, had visited the scene of the bomb blast, had stated: “About 16 luxury buses were damaged with other cars and motorcycles. The Inspector General of Police has also visited the scene personally to assess the level of damage and to give appropriate direction to investigations. In that wise, they want to actually confirm the fact that investigations have already commenced.”

.The Sun