There was however conflicting figures by
government agencies on the number of those injured by the bomber who
also died in the process.
While the state police command put the injured at six, the National Information Centre said 13.
Before news of the incident which
occurred at about 2.30pm on Wednesday, there were reports that Boko
Haram insurgents killed 13 people in a mosque and market in
Potiskum, Yobe State.
The fresh Kano bombing led to a stampede
among members of staff of the institution and final year students who
were going through a list of successful graduates mobilised for the
Batch B of the National Youth Service Corps.
Eyewitness accounts indicated that the suicide bomber was carrying an Improvised Explosive Device hidden under her dress.
Security agents cordoned off the scene of the incident as officers of the Police Bomb Disposal Unit began investigations.
The state Commissioner of Police, Mr.
Adelenre Shinaba, said, “The teenage female suicide bomber sneaked
into the crowd and detonated the IED which she concealed .”
Shinaba, who said the charred remains
of the bomber had been deposited at a morgue, enjoined residents of
the state to be extra vigilant and to report suspicious movements to
security agents.
The British Broadcasting Corporation however reported that the explosion occurred as students queued to check their names on a new admission list .
Although it did not give the casualty figure, it quoted witnesses as saying that bodies lay strewn at the blast site.
The BBC also quoted Reuters news agency as putting the death toll at six.
In Abuja, the Chairman of NIC, Mr. Mike
Omeri, who also put the death toll at two, disclosed at a news
conference that a 10-year old girl strapped with explosives was
among three suspected terrorists arrested in Katsina on Tuesday night.
Omeri said, “This afternoon (Tuesday),
another female suicide bomber exploded an IED at the Kano State
Polytechnic where some final year students who had completed their work
had gone to collect their call-up letters for the National Youth
Service.
“So far, three persons have been reported
killed. Thirteen others are reported to have sustained injuries and
were rushed to the hospital for treatment.
“Investigations are ongoing to determine
the forces behind it and also to ascertain the final number that may
have been involved in this dastardly act.’’
Omeri, who also dismissed insinuations
that Boko Haram may have started using the abducted Chibok girls as
suicide bombers, gave the name of the 10-year-old girl arrested in
Katsina as Hadiza Musa.
He said, “The second thing is the arrest
of three Boko Haram suspects in Katsina. Security forces on Tuesday July
29 at about 10pm along Zaria Road, Tudun Wada of Funtua Metropolis
arrested three suspects believed to be members of Boko Haram.
“The three suspects are Iliya Haliru,
Zainab Musa (18) and Hadiza Musa (10 ) . The three suspects were
arrested in a Honda CRV.
“When they were directed to disembark for security check, Hadiza was discovered to have been strapped with an explosive belt.
“Immediately, Iliya and Zainab made
attempt to escape with the car but were blocked by other concerned
Nigerians and subsequently arrested. The police successfully unstrapped
the explosive.
He lamented that “some parents are also
into this (terrorism) that they are willing to take their children as
young as 10 years into act of cowardice and self-destruct.”
Omeri called on “parents who want their
children to be taught quaranic education to go to formal schools
established for the purpose instead of subjecting them to strangers
whose story or history they don’t know about.”
Force Public Relations Officer, Frank Mba, also threw light on why terrorists now use young girls for terrorism.
He added that more female security officers would be deployed in frisking women and girls.
Mba said, “If you have been following the
trend of terrorism worldwide, you will understand that the use of
female suicide bombers is not totally new, though it is a new trend in
our own part of the world.
“The reason why established international
terror organisations in the world go for female suicide bombers is
clear. The major reason is because women generally raise less suspicion,
particularly when there are security layers, and so they take advantage
of the fact that women raise less suspicion to indoctrinate and recruit
female suicide bombers.
Kano has been under a series of attacks by female suicide bombers since Sunday.
Source:Punch Newspaper
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