Last month, they abducted over 200 schoolgirls in Borno
State; on Thursday, they attacked two schools in Bauchi State; on Sunday, they
bombed Kano city. Today (Tuesday), it is the turn of Jos again. God where are
we heading for in Nigeria?”
These were the words of a trader in the ever-busy Jos
Terminus Market where twin bomb blasts occurred on Tuesday.
The trader, who gave his name simply as James, said he
was lucky to have survived with minor injuries but vowed to relocate his family
from Jos where he had lived for two decades.
James was indeed lucky as eyewitnesses said that over
150 people lost their lives to the blasts.
The Cable News Network however reported a third
explosion in Abuja Market in Jos where shoes are sold. It however did not give
details.
Although eyewitnesses account put the death toll at 150,
the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Chris Olakpe, said that 46 people were
killed while 45 others were wounded.
The first bomb, which was said to have been detonated by
a suicide bomber in a Fiat car, happened at about 3pm when the market
was at its height. The second blast occurred from a Toyota Sienna about
20 metres from the scene of the first.
One of the eyewitnesses said the bomber in the Fiat car
stopped it abruptly along the busy Muritala Mohammed Way which is very close to
the old site of the Jos University Teaching Hospital.
He was said to have left the car for minutes to cause
enough traffic build-up before he returned and detonated the explosives in it.
The explosion was heard all over Jos and Bukuru metropolis.
However as people gathered to assist victims, some
hoodlums started looting and burning cars. In the course of their action, some
youths noticed the Toyota Sienna parked at some distance and went for
it.
While trying to vandalise it, one of them put a light
under the Sienna and immediately it exploded, killing nearly all those in the
vicinity.
There was pandemonium all over the market as traders
scrambled to close shops. Cars that tried to make a quick U-turn were trapped
and many were burnt.
One of the eyewitnesses, who simply identified himself as
Suleiman, told our correspondent in Jos that he was one of the few people that
arrived at the scene and started helping the victims.
Suleiman whose clothes were blood-stained said that for
more than 20 minutes after the blasts, there was no security presence.
He claimed that the policemen attached to a police post
inside the market took to their heels when the first bomb went off.
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