A lone Suicide bomber carrying an Improvised Explosive
Device (IED) suspected to be a bomb at about 9:15 am rammed into the St. Rita
Catholic Church, Anguwar Gado, Malali a suburb in Kaduna, North Western Nigeria
just as Officials of National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) on rescue
mission to the scene of the blast escaped mob attack.
Eye witness’s accounts told NEMA Emergency Response Team (ERT)
that the bomber crashed into the walls that fenced the worship centre after his
attempt of going into the main building of the church was denied by securities
at the church entrance when worshippers were conducting their prayer sessions.
Parts of the church building was badly damaged as a result
killed the lone suspect who was said to have drove in a Mercedes jeep and also
led to the death of six other people with a number of houses neighboring the
church partially and severely affected.
However, NEMA ERT officials escaped being lynched as angry
youths in the community holding sticks, machete and other weapons attacked the
agency’s ambulances and other incidence response vehicles which led to the
smashing of one of the ambulance’s rear side glass.
Meanwhile, after a marathon evacuation operations carried
out by NEMA, Red Cross and other stakeholders in disaster management which
victims were shipped to various medical centers; 7 people including the bomber lost
their lives while no fewer than 100 others mostly children and women sustained
various degrees of injury.
The Barau Dikko Specialists Hospital has the highest casualties
with 4 deaths and close to 72 victims receiving treatments followed by the 44
Army Reference Hospital with 3 deaths and 30 people on admission, Garkuwa
Specialists Hospital has 1 death and 15 victims on treatment, St. Gerard
Catholic Hospital and Yusuf Dantsoho Hospital has admitted almost 14 injured
victims.
