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Explosion Rips Through Drinking Centre In Kano

An explosion has ripped through a drinking centre in Kano, Northern Nigeria. The blast is said to have occurred around 9.30pm on Sunday evening. The … Continue reading Explosion Rips Through Drinking Centre In Kano


An explosion has ripped through a drinking centre in Kano, Northern Nigeria. The blast is said to have occurred around 9.30pm on Sunday evening.

The centre is a popular drinking spot in Sabongari area in Kano.

The blast comes as the Nigerian authorities continue the search for more than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram.

Kano police spokesman, Musa Majiya, said it was too early to say if the blast in the Sabon Gari or “foreign quarter” of the North’s biggest city had caused any casualties.

But witness Abdul Dafar told Reuters he saw at least four dead bodies after the explosion.

“I heard a loud blast. And there was a lot of smoke. Soldiers came in to cordon off the place and ambulances were rushing people to hospital,” he said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but blame is likely to fall on Boko Haram, whose struggle against the Nigerian state has killed at least 12,000 in the last five years.

The militants also operate in neighbouring Niger, Cameroon and Chad, and President Goodluck Jonathan described them as West Africa’s Al-Qaeda on Saturday in Paris, where regional leaders met France’s President Francois Hollande to discuss how to tackle the growing threat posed by the group.

The last major attack on Sabon Gari area in Kano State was last year November in Demboa Village where about 20 people were killed and about a hundred shops and several vehicles burnt during a raid.

Kano state has bee attacked by Boko Haram on several occasions including  a multi-pronged attack which claimed over 200 people on 20 January 2012, 3 blasts at beer parlours in Sabon Gari which led to the death of at least 11 people on 30 July 2013 and a luxury bus park in the same area bombed, with over 60 people dead 18 March 2013.