Two explosions in the main business district of the central city of Jos, Plateau State killed at least 118 people on Tuesday and left another hundred with varying degrees of injuries.
The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), described the casualty rate of the blasts as catastrophic just as President Goodluck Jonathan, Governor Jonah Jang and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal condemned the attacks.
The first explosion was said to have gone off in the market, located at Jos Terminus, at the back of the popular Ahmadu Bello Way by 2.30pm, while the second explosion occurred about 30 minutes later.
The first blast, according to an eye witness, was said to have gone off in a Sienna space bus with number plate Plateau XB 146 BLD.
The second blast was said to have killed more people than the first, as many residents and traders, who had fled the scene following the first explosion, tried to join rescue agencies to save the injured and retrieve bodies of the dead.
At least five residents who were suspicious of a mysterious van parked in their area reportedly informed police officers but no police officer arrived at the scene, and nothing was done until the car exploded some hours afterwards.
It was not immediately clear what caused the blasts, although Boko Haram, which has set off bombs across the country as it becomes increasingly bloodthirsty, is likely to be a prime suspect.
The terrorists grabbed world headlines with the abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls a month ago from a remote village in the northeast. Britain, the United States and France have pledged to help rescue them.
Jos has been relatively free of attacks by the group, but it claimed responsibility for a bomb in a church in the highland city, as well as two other places, on Christmas Day 2011.
The city is in the heart of Nigeria’s volatile “Middle Belt”, where its largely Christian south and mostly Muslim north meet, and surrounding Plateau state is often a flashpoint for violence, although the Christmas bomb failed to trigger any.
The State Police Commissioner, Chris Olakpe confirmed that at least 46 persons were killed in the explosions and that at least 45 others were injured.
Briefing journalists in Jos, the State Commissioner of Police, Chris Olakpe said the bodies have been deposited at the Plateau Specialists Hospital and the Bingham University Teaching Hospital, all in Jos.
Olakpe said: “At about 1500hrs, we heard an explosion but on getting there, a secondary explosion occurred along the same axis. In a situation like this, we don’t rule out high casualties but we are following up to check the Jos University Teaching Hospital, JUTH and other places.
“Anyone with information should come forward with such as it will help us in our investigation”.
The National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, however had said the casualty figure from the bomb explosions were ‘massive.’
The NEMA Coordinator for the North Central, Abdulsalam Abubakar, also said the explosive devices were placed in cars.
“I can’t tell you the figure of those killed by the blasts now, because we are still evacuating bodies from the scene,” Abubakar said.
“The only thing I can say is that the casualty figure is very massive. It is a catastrophe. The bombers parked the cars and left the explosives to detonate. It was in the market and at a peak period. So, you can only imagine what could have happened,” he added.
The NEMA official said dead bodies and mutilated human parts were being deposited at the old and new Jos University Teaching Hospitals, as well as the Plateau Special Hospital. “There are also a massive number of people injured. We have conveyed some to various hospitals,’’ he said.
He said that an idea of the number of casualties was only possible after the rescue operation. “We will have to first finish the operation and then visit the various hospitals. For now, we are only picking dead bodies all over the place,” Abubakar said.
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