A bomb attack by suspected Boko Haram members on a crowded motor park in Nyanya on Monday threw the Federal Capital Territory into confusion. Although security agencies put the number of the dead and the injured at 71 and 124 respectively, independent findings showed that over 100 persons, including three of the men identified as the suicide bombers, died.
Two hundred and fifty seven others sustained various degrees of injury. It was gathered that five luxury buses in the park were fully loaded when the blast occurred.
The park which is located in the heart of Nyanya, a densely populated town in Abuja, is always crowded with commuters mostly civil servants and private sector workers jostling to board Mass Transit vehicles, known as El Rufai Buses, because they cost less...
The explosion shattered windscreens of vehicles on the busy Nyanya highway and resulted in multiple accidents as drivers lost control of their vehicles in a bid to escape from the area.
•Four suicide bombers detonated IEDs
According to an eyewitness account, the attack was carried out by four insurgents in a Volkswagen Golf which was in the park.
It was learnt that when the bombs were detonated, the insurgents opened the car and were running away but were killed along with travellers and other residents who were rushing to their places of work.
Investigation further revealed that the explosion was a well-planned suicide attack on the FCT. A picture of the wreckage of the car showed one of the suicide bombers with a picture of a child believed to be his son placed on his stomach.
The dead bomber’s body also had IED wires tied to his thighs. Security operatives and medical personnel also saw several charms on the body of the bomber.
•Shoes, bags everywhere
Personal effects of victims of the blast were still scattered around the scene. The items included shoes, caps, bags, identity cards and telephone handsets. Some of the handsets were still ringing.
•Victims rushed to public hospitals
The injured victims of the blast were rushed to the general hospitals in Asokoro, Maitama, Wuse and Nyanya as well as the National Hospital, Abuja as the Customs Hospital, Karu.
At the Asokoro General Hospital, the Chief Medical Director, Dr. Amodu Abubakar, confirmed that 25 of the dead were brought into the mortuary of the facility, while 25 of the injured were receiving treatment.
The fate of some of the survivors was so grim that the authorities of the hospital had to appeal to the crowd comprising mostly relatives to donate blood. The wailing in the hospital premises became uncontrollable at the sight of the headless, mangled and unrecognisable bodies of Nigerians who left their homes in good health for their respective workplaces.
May the souls of all those who lost their lives in this senseless attack rest in peace.
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