At least 15 persons have died and 53 others injured after a suicide bomber detonated a bomb at the Tashar Dan-Borno Motor Park in Potiskum town, Yobe State, Nigeria’s north-east region.
In the heat of the confusion, eyewitness said a female suicide bomber, who carried out the attack, alighted from a tricycle opposite the Motor Park and rushed towards a loaded bus when the explosive went off.
Confirming the incident later, the Nigerian police said the suicide bomber was a man, not a teenage girl as reported by some witnesses.
“There were two young females in his vicinity, which is why some witnesses thought it was a man,” police spokesman for Yobe State, Gbadegesin Toyin, said .
The bus, marked Kano XA 592 GBT, is said to have been ready to ferry the passengers to Kano State before the incident happened.
A nursing officer at the hospital where the dead and injured were rushed to, told Channels Television on the condition of anonymity, that so far 15 bodies had been deposited at the mortuary while 53 others are in critical condition.
“This is the worse suicide bombing so far recorded since the commencement of the insurgency, as it has recorded 15 deaths so far while 53 persons are laying critical and there is a high possibility that the death toll will rise considering the extent of injuries so far on ground,” the nursing officer said.
Today’s bombing is coming barely two days after a female suicide bomber hit the Potiskum GSM Market, killing 6 and injuring several others.
Motor parks, markets, restaurants and several other public places have remained targets of the dreaded Islamist terror group, the Boko Haram.
No one has claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s bombing, which bore the hallmarks of the Boko Haram sect.
The insurgents have suffered a string of defeats in a military offensive by Nigeria and neighbours Cameroon, Niger and Chad.
Nigerian forces backed by air strikes seized the north-eastern border town of Baga from Boko Haram on Saturday, the military said.
