KANO, Nigeria: A series of blasts targeting buses full of passengers in Nigeria’s second city of Kano killed at least 20 people on Monday, but the toll was expected to rise, a rescue official and a security source told AFP.
Initial reports indicated that two suicide bombers rammed a car packed with explosives into a bus at the New Road station in Sabon Gari, a predominantly Christian neighbourhood in the majority Muslim city.
Several explosions were heard following the initial blast, sparking panic as bloodied bystanders including some with serious injuries fled the scene as soldiers arrived to cordon off the area.
Kano, the largest city in Nigeria’s mainly Muslim north, has been repeatedly targeted by Islamist group Boko Haram, blamed for killing hundreds in the region since 2009.
“I saw three buses on fire. One of them was fully loaded with passengers waiting to leave the station at the time of the blasts … There are at least 20 dead,” said the rescue official who requested anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to journalists.
“The figure may rise,” he added.
A senior security official in Kano, who also declined to be named, told AFP he believed the death toll was “massive”, describing the figure of 20 as an “understatement”, without giving a precise toll. — AFP