Two explosions in Nigeria leave dozens dead

(AP Photo)

At least 49 people were killed and dozens injured when two blasts struck a market in the north-east Nigerian city of Gombe on Thursday, according to AFP.

The first explosion took place outside a packed footwear shop around 1620 GMT, followed by a second explosion minutes later, said Badamasi Amin, a local trader who counted at least three bodies. He said the area was crowded with customers doing last-minute shopping on the eve of Eid, the festival marking the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

Amin said he was about 70 metres from the scene when the first blast hit.

“I and many other people rushed to assist the victims. While we were trying to attend to the wounded, another blast happened outside a china shop just opposite the footwear shop,” he said, adding that he was “drenched in blood” from moving dead bodies.

Ali Nasiru, another trader, said he saw “people lying lifeless on the ground”.

“Traders and shoppers helped in evacuating the victims to the hospital,” he said.

“In all, we have 49 dead and 71 injured,” a rescue official told AFP, asking not to be named. He said the toll could climb further as some of the wounded were in a critical condition and that the victims include many children.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blasts but a market, bus station and stadium in Gombe, the capital of Gombe state, have all in recent months been targeted by bomb and suicide attacks.

In February, the militant Islamist group Boko Haram claimed responsibility for an attack on Gombe during which hundreds of insurgents, armed with heavy weapons, invaded the city for a few hours.

Gombe state’s neighbours, Borno, Yobo and Adamawa, have been most affected by the Boko Haram insurgency that has killed more than 15,000 people in Nigeria since 2009.

There has been a spike in attacks by the group after a four-nation coalition of Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon pushed out the militants from captured territory earlier this year.

The violence has intensified since the Nigerian president, Muhammadu Buhari, took power one and a half months ago and vowed to crush the group, something his predecessor had also made a priority but failed to do.

In an Eid message, Buhari pledged to press on with efforts to quash the militants.

“I was very aware of your high expectations when I assumed office and I reassure you, my fellow citizens, that since my inauguration … I have been working with utmost dedication to meticulously plan and tackle the many national challenges which we identified and promised to resolve,” he said.

“To succeed however, I need your continued support, understanding and patience.”

Buhari, a former army general, this week sacked his entire defense top brass in the wake of criticism over the military command’s poor handling of the six-year Boko Haram insurgency.