A large explosion rocked a bus station Wednesday in a north Nigeria
area previously targeted by Boko Haram, witnesses said, in what appeared
to be the latest crack in the government’s purported ceasefire with the
Islamists. “We had a huge blast at exactly 9:45 pm (2045 GMT)… We
realised it had come from the bus station,” said Musa Babale, a
resident of the town of Azare in Bauchi state where the explosion
occurred...
“The whole place was a mess,” he said.The police
and military did not answer calls seeking comment but another resident
of the affected area near the Kano road said the security forces had
surrounded the site.
“We found the place cordoned off by soldiers
and police,” said witness Mauzu Ibrahim. “From where I stood I saw
bodies being put in a van.”Other witnesses also reported seeing
casualties but it was not immediately possible to estimate the number
and emergency workers were not available to comment.
While the
cause of the blast remained unclear, 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.
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.
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