Nigeria Mall Bomb Blast Kills 22; 16 of Which Were Soldiers

The extremist Boko Haram Islamic sect had claimed responsibility for the two successive explosions.

Twenty-two people were confirmed killed in yet another bomb explosion that rocked a major shopping mall in Wuse 2, Abuja, on Wednesday afternoon. Photo Courtesy: allAfrica.com

(ABUJA, Nigeria) - Twenty-two people were confirmed killed in yet another bomb explosion that rocked a major shopping mall in Wuse 2, Abuja, on Wednesday afternoon.

Seventeen others were wounded, while the explosion also damaged 17 vehicles.

Reports said a terror suspect who was caught with a second bomb was arrested and another died while fleeing the scene.

The latest explosion is coming about two months after a twin bomb blast similarly killed 75 people and wounded several others at Nyanya, a suburb of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) on April 14.

Less than three weeks later in May another bomb was to went off also at Nyanya, killing several people and wounding many others.

The extremist Boko Haram Islamic sect had claimed responsibility for the two successive explosions.

The Wednesday bomb went off at Emab Plaza, a busy shopping mall in the highbrow area of the FCT on Aminu Kano Crescent.

A worker with the Turkey International School in Abuja who had gone to a nearby mosque reportedly died in the blast.

An eyewitness, who said he observed the scene about 50 meters away from the blast, claimed that two young men on a bike rode by and dropped the 'package' in a sac-like container and then sped off five minutes after the blast occurred.

He said a shoe shiner who operates directly opposite the Emab Plaza was also caught in the blast and killed instantly.

Another victim of the blast was the Managing Edsitor (North) of the New Telegraph Newspapers, Bisalla Suleiman, who was at the plaza to fix his phone.

The eyewitness noted that most of those that were caught in the blast were women hawking banana and groundnuts at the entrance of the plaza.

Another eyewitness told Daily Independent that the casualty figure far surpassed the one given by the police.

According to her, if the emergency services had come to the scene on time, some of the dead victims may have been rushed to the hospital and many cars may not have been burnt.

It was observed that the bomb might have been dropped at the main entrance of the plaza, some metres away from the gate.

Hawkers around the area usually stay close to the gate to hassle prospects coming in out of the plaza.

Husband of one of the victims at the Maitama Hospital where some of the wounded were hospitalised recounted how he lost his wife to the blast.

"My wife who sells bananas outside the plaza was a victim, but the little child she was carrying survived. I'm still waiting to see the corpse of my wife but I was prevented from seeing her."

Another eyewitness, Rabiu Ya'u, told Daily Independent that the blast occurred few minutes before 3.00 p.m.

Source: allAfrica.com