- Title: NIGERIA: Suspected Islamists kill 29 in Nigeria bombing - Witnesses
- Date: 15th January 2014
- Summary: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS MATERIAL WHICH WAS ORIGINALLY 4:3 EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: QUALITY AS INCOMING MAIDUGURI, NIGERIA (JANUARY 14, 2013) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) MILITARY PERSONNEL PATROLLING SCENE OF CAR BLAST YOUTHS AT THE SCENE DAMAGED TRICYCLE MILITARY OFFICER WALKING PAST/ YOUTH CARRYING A STICK/CARS PARKED VARIOUS OF PEOPLE WALKING INJURED PEOPLE WALKING (SOUNDBITE) (English) MAIDUGURI RESIDENT, SAYING: "I don't really know but I'm there inside my shop and suddenly I heard a bomb blast from nowhere and cars and people. Shops there are just getting burnt. Just thank God for my life, just thank God for my life." (SOUNDBITE) (English) INJURED VICTIM SAYING: "(Journalist asking: what really happened?) It's something we cannot tell for now. (Journalist saying: sister sorry)" INJURED VICTIMS WALKING AWAY VARIOUS OF MILITARY PERSONNEL PATROLLING
- Embargoed: 30th January 2014 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Nigeria
- Country: Nigeria
- Topics: Crime,Conflict,Politics
- Reuters ID: LVAEAO6SIKCK1SFURJ1CJB6G2C7N
- Story Text: Car bomb kills at least 29 people in northeastern city of Maiduguri, the latest violence in a region beset by an Islamist insurgency.
A car bomb killed at least 29 people on Tuesday (January 14) in Nigeria's northeastern city of Maiduguri, the epicentre of an Islamist revolt, witnesses said.
No one claimed responsibility for the blast. But militant sect Boko Haram, founded in the city, has repeatedly attacked schools, churches and government and military targets in its four-year-old campaign.
Dozens of youths, some armed with machetes, protested on the street after the attack, accusing politicians of failing to curb Boko Haram.
The bomb, planted in a three-wheel rickshaw taxi, exploded outside the state television offices.
"I don't really know but I'm there inside my shop and suddenly I heard a bomb blast from nowhere and cars and people shops there are just getting burnt. Just thank God for my life, just thank God for my life," a businessman based in Maiduguri said.
"It's something we cannot tell for now," an injured victim who was still in shock said.
Military Spokesman Muhammad Dole said in a statement soldiers had arrested one person suspected of being behind what he called "heinous and dastardly acts".
Borno State Police Commissioner Lawan Tanko said 17 people were confirmed dead but the final death toll could be higher.?
Soldiers fired shots into the air to disperse crowds before cordoning off roads around the scene.
The attack will be a setback for President Goodluck Jonathan's military crackdown, which had temporarily succeeded in pushing Boko Haram's assaults into rural areas.
Boko Haram gunmen stormed the air force base and military barracks around Maiduguri's airport on December 2, ending six months of relative calm in the city.
Boko Haram fighters continue to target military outposts and raid villages in remote regions near borders with Cameroon and Chad.
The radical Islamist sect says it is fighting to create an Islamic state in a country of nearly 170 million, split roughly equally between Christians and Muslims.
Maiduguri is the capital of Borno State, where Boko Haram first launched its uprising in 2009, beginning with drive-by shootings of policeman and quickly developing the scale and sophistication of its attacks.
Boko Haram and splinter Islamist groups are viewed as the biggest security threat in Africa's second largest economy and biggest oil producer.
The United States and its allies are increasingly concerned that Islamist groups in Nigeria will strengthen ties with al Qaeda's north African wing.
Boko Haram suicide attack on the United Nations building in 2011 in the capital Abuja killed at least 25 people. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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