Another car bomb found in Kano

A car bomb was discovered in Kano yesterday before it went off, aborting what the police said would have been “another devastating bomb blast” in the city.The Mitsubishi station wagon car wired with improvised explosives devices was found by police operatives abandoned in Nassarawa area, state police commissioner Adenerele Shinaba said yesterday.The discovery was made […]

A car bomb was discovered in Kano yesterday before it went off, aborting what the police said would have been “another devastating bomb blast” in the city.
The Mitsubishi station wagon car wired with improvised explosives devices was found by police operatives abandoned in Nassarawa area, state police commissioner Adenerele Shinaba said yesterday.
The discovery was made less than 24 hours after a car bomb exploded Sunday night at the Sabon Gari area, killing nine people.
“In the car, which was abandoned on the road, we saw two gas cylinders, a gallon filled with petroleum and many cables,” Shinaba told journalists at the scene of Sunday night’s blast.
The Police Force Headquarters in Abuja also issued a statement announcing yesterday’s car bomb discovery.
“The Police in Kano today, 19th May, 2014, about 9:00am averted what could have been another devastating bomb blast in the ancient city of Kano,” spokesman Frank Mba said.
“Kano Police operatives, acting on intelligence, tracked and recovered a Mitsubishi Station Wagon car, ash in colour, with registration number Kano – AE 756 GSW loaded with assorted gas cylinders, one container of fuel and other electrical components of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs).
“The vehicle was recovered at Tafawa Balewa Street, Nasarawa area of Kano State and has since been rendered safe by Police Bomb Disposal experts.”
It was not clear who left the car bomb or where it would have targeted.
Mba said security agencies in Kano have commenced investigation into the aborted blast as well as into the Sunday night’s bombing.
The car bomb was found a day after the blast at the Sabon Gari area, where residents said at least nine dead bodies were recovered. The police disputed the death toll, saying five people, likely including the bomber, were killed.
The Sunday night explosion happened at about 9.30pm at Middle Road, off Gold Coast Street.
“The blast led to the death of five persons including the suspected suicide bomber. Seven persons were injured, four of them already treated and discharged while six vehicles were also damaged,” Mba said.
Kano has seen two other similar bombings last year. The first, at a bus park in March 2013, left dozens dead, while around 20 were killed in the second one in July.
Before then, there had been several bombings and shootings, the deadliest being the January 2012 Boko Haram attack that left more than 180 people dead.
But Kano has seen relative peace, as insurgency rages to the east, in Yobe and Borno states.