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2 female suicide bombers behind Nigerian market attack: police

11 December 2014 04:11 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Two female suicide bombers were behind twin explosions which claimed casualties at the Kantin Kwari Market in northwestern Nigeria's state of Kano on Wednesday, local police said, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

The young girls, wearing hijab, carried out the attack by detonating their explosive devices at the biggest and busiest textile market in the northern region of Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, state police chief Adenrele Shinaba told reporters after rescue operation had been completed.

"They came by the market and asked to be directed to a public convenience. The bombs detonated, killing them and four others. At least seven others were injured," the police chief said.

The market's car park was most affected by the attack, according to Abubakar Abdullahi, chairman of the market traders' union. "The police had taken away bodies of the suspected suicide bombers," he added.

Rescue workers and security operatives jointly took part in the evacuation of all persons affected by the blasts to hospitals and cordoned off the location to forestall the danger of more explosions, spokesman of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Ezekiel Manzo, told Xinhua.

He said the victims were evacuated to the nearby Murtala Muhammad Specialist Hospital and Nassarawa Hospital where they are presently being treated of the various degrees of injuries that they sustained.

"At least more than 29 persons were rescued from the blast and taken to the hospital," he added.

Earlier, witnesses had said dozens of people were feared killed in the attack which occurred at the market, at a time when a lot of people were making transactions.

"So many people, more than 20, have died; many others were injured. Rescue operators have just arrived and the security operatives have now cordoned off the area," a witness named Salihu Ahmed told a Xinhua reporter.

Another witness identified as Baba Ibrahim said he saw many dead bodies while running for safety after the loud blasts.

The incident occurred barely two weeks after suicide bombers hit the central mosque near the Emir's palace in Kano State, killing over 120 people and injured more.

It is still unsure whether the attack was a perpetration of the militant sect Boko Haram which has carried out a series of similar attacks in the country.

The Kantin Kwari Market, located in the city center of Kano, is a Mecca of sort to merchants of textile materials in the West African country.

Boko Haram, which seeks to enshrine the Islamic Sharia law in Nigeria, has killed thousands of people, including women and children, since it launched its violence in the African country in 2009.