Bloodbath averted in Kano

A major blood­bath was Fri­day averted in Kano as Nigeria Police Force, intercepted 13 gas cylinders of Impro­vised Explosive De­vices (IED) primed to explode on worship­pers at a Jumat Pray­ing Ground in the state capital.
The IEDs were loaded in a rickety ox- blood Nissan Starlet car with registra­tion number, AV 234 NSR, within the surrounding of the Praying Ground at Sau­na General Area, Dakata in Kano State, a few minutes ahead of the praying time, which was to commence at 2.00pm.Continue...


Briefing newsmen on the development at the Bompai headquarters of the com­mand, Kano State Com­missioner of Police, Alhaji Adenrele Shinaba, held that the Improvised Explo­sive Devices were already primed and were tickling to the hour of explosion when the police intercepted them. He added that if they had exploded on the innocent worshippers, the Abuja tragedy, two days back, would have been a child’s play.

The commissioner, who also displayed a remote control key, billed to trig­ger off the explosion, also announced the recovery of some live bullets in the ill fated vehicle.

Talking about the recov­ery of the IEDs (bombs) he said the police received information from the mem­bers of the public that a vehicle was abandoned in their vicinity.

He added that following the tip from the commu­nity, the police immediately dispatched their Explosive Ordinance Unit to the spot. According to him, upon arrival, the vehicle was screened and found to be loaded with explosive de­vices. He explained that the police first asked the resi­dents of the area to leave the vicinity of the parked car, following which they detonated the first gas cyl­inder, adding that the im­pact of that single detona­tion shook several houses simultaneously and made a very loud, huge explosive sound.

Following this develop­ment, the Explosive Ordi­nance Unit advised that the rest of the explosive devic­es should not be denoted at the point, but should be re­moved elsewhere to ensure they were safely detonated.

He appreciated the mem­bers of the Kano public for the timely and vital infor­mation while thanking God for the protection of lives, restating that if the terror­ists had succeeded, “the agony would have been un­imaginable by now.”