Bomb Goes Off In Zaria, Kaduna State

A powerful explosion has occurred at an area close to the Guest House of the Emir of Zaria in Tukur-Tukur area of Zaria.

Eyewitnesses said a powerful explosion occurred in an area already cordoned off by security agents in the city. Our sources inform us that the explosion could be heard as far as in Kwangila and Samaru, where the main campus of A.B.U Zaria is located.

Earlier, gunshots rang out in the area as an unidentified Islamic cleric house and nearby Mosque was raided by troops as a result of intelligence gathered by the Joint Task Force that a group linked with Islamist militant group Boko Haram was planning a major attack on churches early Sunday.

Today’s explosion happened some five minutes drive from a series of churches where some christian worshippers were killed and wounded in major bomb attacks in June.

A church leader told Saharareporters that they were tipped off to the effect that Boko Haram sect members had arrived the city of Zaria with a massive car bomb since Friday.

There are no reports of casualties on the scene of today’s explosion as at the time of publishing this report

-Additional Reports By Sahara Reporters

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More details coming…

 UPDATE

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Gunmen detonated a bomb Sunday near an Islamic boarding school in northern Nigeria and later exchanged gunfire with security forces, causing unknown casualties in the region’s latest round of violence, officials said.

Sunday’s attack hit Zaria, a city in the northern reaches of Kaduna state that is the nerve center of Shiite Muslims in a country where Muslims are predominantly Sunni. The blast struck the Gaskiya neighborhood in the city, causing some injuries, said Yushau Shuaib, a spokesman for Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency.

Following the blast, soldiers and police flooded the area and opened fire on gunmen they suspected of planting the bomb, killing two people, Shuaib said. Local authorities took the injured to a nearby hospital. Police and military officials could not be immediately reached for comment.

The explosion could have potentially killed more people, but the gunmen ordered the children out of the school before triggering the bomb, according to some witnesses who spoke to officials. The blast destroyed several homes nearby as well.

The Nigerian military had surrounded the blast site hours before as part of an operation to track down members of the radical Islamist sect known as Boko Haram, a witness told The Associated Press. Soldiers forced those living around the area to flee during the operation, the witness said. The witness spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of facing reprisals from the government for speaking to a foreign journalist.

It is not clear what led up to the bomb detonation as soldiers had been around the area for hours.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the blast, though Boko Haram has carried out bombings and shootings throughout northern Nigeria. The sect, whose name means “Western education is sacrilege” in the Hausa language of Nigeria’s north, has been blamed for killing more than 680 people this year alone, according to an AP count. The group wants the federal government to release its imprisoned members and implement strict Shariah law across Nigeria, which is largely divided into a Christian south and a Muslim north.

Military officials recently claimed to have killed members of Boko Haram’s senior leadership, including the group’s spokesman who uses the nom de guerre Abul Qaqa. The sect, which typically speaks to journalists through telephone conference calls at times of its choosing, could not be immediately reached for comment Sunday.

The group has recently changed some of its tactics and attacked more than 30 mobile phone towers throughout northern Nigeria, disrupting communications in a nation reliant on cellular phones.

Boko Haram has attacked mosques and killed Muslims in the past. The Zaria boarding school near Sunday’s bombing is run by Awwal Adam Albani, who is a critic of Boko Haram and a follower of the ultraconservative sect of Islam known as Salafi.

22 COMMENTS

  1. The explosion occured some 200 meters from my house but I was not in town, my security guard informed me that two people were confirm dead and some houses close to my were cracked with glasses and ceilings dropped, even though mine is intact by Gods grace, three houses within range are levelled to ground zero.

  2. May Almighty Allah protect us against this unfortunate people. I want to make this clear to the public that if there is such kind of incident, you should not selfishly decide the one responsible for it, because the bomb planters have no identity.

  3. You bastards muslims why sympathizing, when you are also a potential terrorist as long as u are still saying that devilish word (allau akkbar). The BLOOD of TERRIORIST started from SATAN, through ur prophet MUHAMMED and flows than to all bastard muslims using the devilish Quran, Hadith, IJma, and Quiyas, I long to be in power someday so I can Erase all the bastard muslims(terrorist)from the surface of Nigeria.

  4. You unidentity person (Bastard Muslim) or what ever your name is, please you should know that not all muslim is tetirist so dont talk like this. No one insulted your religeon so stop insulting others rlgn this is cawordnes. And you know that even we the muslims we dont like what this people are doing. So pls talk sense or keep quiet.

  5. @bastard muslim, u r a coward n ignorant fool. I bet u did not study ur bible well., because if u hv, u wouldnt hv wagged ur rotten mouth lyk this. Islam. N muslims will continue to prosper n will never be extinct no matter what people lyk u r planning against us. ALLAHU AKBAR!

  6. Bastard right? U really come from generation of them Bastards. May ALLAH judge you Bastard & for saying ALLAHU AKBAR, oh we’ll keep on saying that till end of this world get use 2 dat!! You really don’t know anytin do you? Read before you talk & remember only the best of character follow ISLAM not fools like whoever your.

  7. “@bastard….Who“? U are an infidel 2 say this, must u talk? So u better shut up ur ugly n dirty mouth, or else u‘ll end up posting vexacious comments dat‘ll fuel d ember of ethno/religious bigotry & subsequently consume u n ur generation… Insha-Allah… Olodo kawai… Jama‘a kuce ALLAHU AKBAR!!! Wanda bai so ya mutu.

  8. @ Kaduna. But the man is only making comment on what he knows as regards the muslim faith and its origin. After all your the so called prophet Mahammed had no morality by marrying a minor of 6yrs despite the other 8 wives he had. He told his followers they could marry only 4. Isn’t that hypocrisy? Mohammed killed to promote his religion through satanic revelation he received from a demonic angel and you follow blindly such religious leader. If your religion is ok- you can’t go about killing innocent people all over the world. Since the inception of Islam, the world has known no peace. See the suicide bombings in Iraq, Iran, Syria, Somalia, Kenya, Zanzibar, Pakistan, Indonesia- name it. Islam is the Armageddon of this generation. May God have mercy.

  9. @Bastard, if u are a bastard do u tink everybodi is lyk u? U will b cought one de. Is better u repent b4 it is 2let 4 u. Allahu Akbar! Do u belief in any religion at all? Rememba dt u were created by Allah nd u are abusing Him. He is seeing u, hearing u nd will definitely judge u.

  10. hadakel. If I may ask, who do u really worship? God d father? God d son? God d holy spirit? U pple ignorantly say jesus is son of God n yet its him u worship not God. What a lost. Better sit down n ask urself questions, isn’t ur bliv really confusing or confused

  11. Allahu-Akbar Allahu-Akbar Allahu_Akbar Allahu-Akbar Allahu-Akbar Allahu_Akbar Allahu-Akbar Allahu-Akbar Allahu_Akbar Allahu-Akbar Allahu-Akbar Allahu_Akbar Allahu-Akbar Allahu-Akbar Allahu_Akbar Allahu-Akbar Allahu-Akbar Allahu_Akbar Allahu-Akbar Allahu-Akbar Allahu_Akbar Allahu-Akbar Allahu-Akbar Allahu_Akbar. It shall neva seize 4rm d mouth of Muslims. :p