NIGERIAN MOSQUE ATTACK DEATH TOLL CLIMBS OVER 100, SCORES MORE HURT
Report: Dozens killed in mosque bombing
The official, who spoke
on the condition of anonymity, said the toll could rise, as some of the
wounded were in critical condition and may not survive.
A third bomb exploded outside the mosque among a crowd of worshipers.
The attacks come two
weeks after the emir of Kano, Muhammad Sanusi II, one of Nigeria's most
influential monarchs, called for self-defense, urging people to procure
arms and fight Islamist militant group Boko Haram, which has a
significant presence in the area.
The emir made the call at the same mosque where Friday's attack occurred.
Although there was no
immediate claim of responsibility, Boko Haram is the main suspect. Many
believe the attacks were reprisals for the emir's call to arms against
the terror group.
A CNN reporter at the
morgue of the Murtala Mohammed Specialist Hospital -- one of two
hospitals treating victims of the attacks -- counted 94 bodies and was
told by a health professional involved in collecting bodies that 38
bodies already had been identified and taken by relations for burial.
"We have around 140 dead
bodies brought from the mosque and more than 160 being treated for
various injuries," the health professional said, asking not to be named
because he was not authorized to speak on casualties.
"This is only for this hospital. Other corpses and wounded victims have been taken to Nassarawa Specialist Hospital," he said.
At Nassarawa Specialist Hospital, a rescue worker said the facility had received scores of injured and dead.
"We brought in more than
150 people injured in the attack at the mosque along with dozens of
dead bodies," the rescue worker said.
Hundreds of relations
have thronged the morgues and emergency units of the two hospitals to
identify their dead relations and tend for those wounded, with doctors
and nurses overstretched by the huge number of casualties.
At the Murtala Mohammed
hospital, relatives were taking turns entering the morgue in groups to
identify loved ones killed in the attacks, then to take bodies for
burial after documentation by morgue attendants.
National police
spokesman Emmanuel Ojukwu said the two bombers detonated explosives
strapped to their bodies within short intervals while gunmen opened fire
on worshipers who were trying to escape. At least three men, wearing
explosives and armed with AK-47s, arrived in a Toyota Sienna van and
opened fire on people fleeing the mosque, Kano Deputy Police
Commissioner Sanusi N. Lemo told reporters.
An irate mob pursued the
gunmen who had opened fire on worshipers, and people in the mob killed
the gunmen, Ojukwu and witnesses said.
"The fact that the
people pursued and killed the gunmen with bare hands shows the people
have heeded to the call of the emir to fight back," said resident Sani
Akarami.
The emir, who had urged
resistance against Boko Haram, was not at the mosque when the attack
took place. He is in Saudi Arabia on a pilgrimage, sources close to the
emir said.
If Boko Haram is found to be responsible for these latest attacks it would be the second worst attack on Kano by the militants.
On January 20, 2012 at
least 185 people were killed and scores injured in coordinated bomb and
shooting attacks on security formations in the city by Boko Haram
gunmen.
Kano is one of the areas
where Boko Haram has fought an anti-government campaign to institute
Sharia, or Islamic law. Attacks attributed to the group in Kano include a
wave of bombings that killed 180 people in one day in 2012 and a
suicide bombing that killed six people, including three police officers,
at a gas station this month.
Boko Haram, which means
"Western education is a sin," still is believed to be holding more than
200 girls it abducted in April from a school in Chibok, Borno state.
Also this month, Boko Haram's leader said the girls had been converted to Islam and married off, and he denied the government's claim that it had reached a ceasefire agreement with the group.
President Goodluck
Jonathan extended his condolences to the victims of the mosque attack
and directed officials to conduct a full-scale investigation, Nigerian
state broadcaster NTA
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