It is indeed
another sad day in Nigeria as two coordinated bomb attacks at ThisDay
Newspaper offices in Kaduna and Abuja has left six people dead and
several others injured. The first attack was at the Newspaper’s office
in Abuja while the second occurred at a complex that houses a ThisDay
Newspaper office along Kontagora road by Ahmadu Bello way in Kaduna.
ThisDay’s
editorial board chairman Olusegun Adeniyi confirmed the attack. “The
suicide bomber came in a jeep and security guards opened the gate for
him. The guy drove in through the gate and rammed into the building and
exploded. Two of our security men died, and obviously suicide bomber
died too.”
Mr. Adeniyi also confirmed that five support staff were wounded.
“Fortunately the newsroom is a bit far from the back of the building,”
said Adeniyi.
“So all the
people in the newsroom … are all safe.”
At the scene of the Abuja blast, a Nigerian Red Cross spokesman Nwakpa
Nwakpa said “We have collected three bodies but before we got here
people had already been moved.” The blast killed at least three people
and wounded others, Nwakpa said.
A Reuters
witness saw the attack in Kaduna, when a suicide car bomber drove into
the This Day office compound and tried to detonate his explosives but
was stopped by bystanders, who dragged him out of the vehicle. People at
the Newspaper office quickly surrounded the car. The driver then began
shouting that there was a bomb inside the car.
Those there allowed the man to open the trunk of the car and he pulled
out an object and threw it at the crowd, which exploded.
At least three
people died in that blast.
ThisDay is based in southern Nigeria and is broadly supportive of
President Goodluck Jonathan’s government, the main target for Islamist
insurgent group Boko Haram. There was no immediate claim of
responsibility for the bombings.
It is unclear why bombers targeted ThisDay, a newspaper owned by the
politically connected media mogul Nduka Obaigbena. The Islamic sect,
Boko Haram has in the past not made any deliberate attacks on media
houses.
This new turn of events comes as a shock to all.
May the souls of those who died in the attacks Rest In Peace.
.jpg)
