Multiple explosions yesterday night rocked different parts of Nigeria's capital city, Abuja, with scores feared dead.
The explosions according to Leadership were said to have been carried out by a female suicide bomber who attempted hitting the Kuje police station at about 9:51pm and a second blast from a suicide bomber on a motorcycle who detonated explosives in front of the Kuje market, killing dozens of people 15 minutes later.
According to an eyewitness, a female suicide bomber attempted to gain entrance into the Kuje divisional police headquarters through the back fence, but while she was trying to scale the fence, the bomb strapped to her exploded and killed her instantly.
He added that about 15 minutes later, a young man on a motorcycle rode close to the gate of the Kuje main market and detonated his explosives killing many of those engaging in night trading. He said he saw 13 bodies being evacuated to the national hospital. He also added that several dozens of those injured were also taken to the National Hospital.
In reaction to the blast, he said the commissioner of police and other senior military officers rushed to the scene, cordoned off the area and assisted in evacuating both the injured and the death.
A third explosion was reported at Jukwoyi Bus Station after the Nyanya Bridge about 10:10 pm later. Nyanya was the scene of two deadly bombings in 2014, leading to scores of death at the crowded Bus Station.
Reports of casualty as at press time are still sketchy.
Boko Haram: Why Suicide Bombers Attacked Abuja - Security Official
The Kuje and Nyanya suburbs of Nigeria's capital city, Abuja, were yesterday night rocked by a series of bomb blasts, a year after they'd had relative peace from bomb explosions.
There was a bomb explosion at the Kuje police station and a second blast in front of the Kuje market, which reportedly killed a handful of night traders.
There are reports of a third blast Jukwoyi Bus Station after the Nyanya Bridge, another suburb in the city.
A security official according to Leadership said the target of the bombing was the freeing of some Boko Haram prisoners that were incarcerated at the Kuje prisons, alluding to the fact that the Nyanya bombing which occurred was meant to be a decoy.
The official also revealed that the agency had earlier arrested two suspects in Lagos and one in Kaduna following intense trailing and tracking of the suspects.
“We had arrested suspects who had confessed to this plots and more but the date and timing for this act was not precise even as we kept intercepting their phone calls made within themselves. They were missed by just 35 minutes. Their target was to blow up Kuje Prison and set free their members there but of course it was not to be and hence the resort to bombings. Nyanya was just a decoy, the real target was the Kuje prison,” the official stated.