Kaduna Blast: We Tried In Vain To Stop The Bomber – Survivors

Survivors of yesterday bomb
explosions that killed five and
injured 20 people in Kaduna
metropolis told LEADERSHIP
how they tried in vain to
prevent the bomber from
carrying out his deadly mission
on a three-storey building
along Kontagora road.
The bomber who drove inside
the building housing ThisDay,
The Sun and The Moment
newspapers in a brand new
Honda Academy with a
registration AL306, planted
the explosives and began to
walk away but was accosted
by passersby who were
suspicious of his movement.
LEADERSHIP gathered that
after the explosion, another
11 camp cylinder containing
Improvised Explosive Devices
(IEDs) were found around the
building and detonated by the
Police Anti-bomb squad.
A survivor, Danjuma
Abdulkadir, who is lying sick at
the St. Gerard’s Catholic
Hospital, told LEADERSHIP: “We
were in my friend’s House
along Jos Road, and all of the
sudden we heard a voice
outside that they have
caught a man that wanted to
plant a bomb in our vicinity
along Kontogora.
My friend and I came out and
saw a man amidst of the
crowd. We were pushing the
bomber to go and detonate
the bomb inside his car.
Immediately we got near the
building, the bomb exploded.”
At Barau Dikko specialist
hospital where four victims
were in the intensive care
unit, Haruna Ahmed, one of
the survivors, told LEADERSHIP
that he was on a motorcycle
heading for his office to
collect his salary when the
bomb exploded, killing the
commercial motorcyclist
instantly but “God helped me
to survive it.”
“I cannot explain what actually
happened, but while we were
approaching the place, we saw
a crowd of people gathering
around that place and we
were wondering what
happened. All of a sudden I
heard a loud blast and I saw
myself across the road while I
saw the ‘okada’ man who
carried me lifeless, with
several others wounded,” he
said.
According to ThisDay
circulation clerk, Mr. Monday
Emmanuel, who was in the
office at the time of the
incident, the bomber parked
the car and started shouting
that the car was going to
explode.
“It was around 11am when
Shehu (another employee) ran
up to tell us that we should
run. He said there was bomb
within the premises and we
should run. At first we
thought he was joking, but we
noticed that he was dead
serious. So we ran for our
dear lives. We left the
premises before the bomb
finally exploded.
“The bomber was pursued by
people around the
neighbourhood. He was caught
and beaten seriously.
Everybody along the street
was gripped by fear and
confusion,” he said.
A 22-year-old man, Jamil
Abubakar, who was at the
building when the bomber
drove in, noted that the man
drove the Honda car vey
dangerously into the office
complex.
He narrates what happened: “I
was coming from the other
end. I saw it. He crashed on
the wall. He came out of the
car and started chanting laila
inlala u. He then started
shouting ‘bomb! bomb! bomb!
People ran to him and
grabbed him.
“They started beating him.
They said he had to show
them the bomb. He was taken
to the car. He opened the
bonnet of the car and quickly
took what looked like a bomb
to me.
“But I saw when he flung the
bomb over the gate of the
complex and it fell on some of
the people waiting outside to
see what was happening. It
exploded with a loud bang. I
ran away. Fire started
because some cars and motor
bikes caught fire. I came back
and saw three corpses. I
counted them - they were
three. But there were some
people that were injured.
Some of them were badly
hurt.
“In the commotion that
ensued, the man that came
with the car escaped and hid
in some part of the complex.
But he was later arrested by
the Police.”

Source: Leadership Newspaper