Joseph Bakare/Hyacinth Chinweuba/Agency Report
A blast ripped through a bus in Potiskum, Yobe state, on Tuesday. The explosion happened at the Tashar Dan-Borno motor park, on the outskirts of the city but rescuers could not immediately determine the number of casualties.
“The bus had just loaded with passengers on its way to Kano when a huge explosion happened inside the bus at exactly 11:40 am,” said a driver’s union official at the bus station. “We still don’t know how many people were affected. We are waiting for the fire to be put out before we can have a figure of casualty”, he added.
However, other eyewitnesses reported that they saw up to 12 bodies being brought out of the burnt bus. “For now we have 13 dead and they have taken 17 others to hospital. The death toll may change,” said a drivers’ union official. The official and another driver both said the blast happened after a man put a bag in the boot of the bus and then tried to board the vehicle before he could go through a security check.
Called to mind is the blast on Sunday, when a young girl with explosives strapped to her body blew up at a crowded market. Seven people were killed in the blast, which again underlined the severe security challenges facing Nigeria in the run-up to presidential and parliamentary elections on March 28.
Waziri Danu, who lives in the area, said of the latest bombing: “I was at a car wash nearby when I heard a huge explosion and saw volleys of fire and smoke coming from the motor park.b”I and people around rushed to the place and we saw a bus engulfed in flames…. It is not likely if anyone in the vehicle has survived.”