It was bloody yesterday in Kano. A bomb ripped through the School of Hygiene, killing eight and injuring 20.
The school is opposite Sabon Kofar on the Bayero University (BUK) Road. The explosion occurred at about 2:05 p.m., damaging eight vehicles parked in the premises.
Commissioner of Police Adenrele Shinaba told reporters at the scene of the incident that a suspect had been arrested.
“We are yet to establish whether the bomb was planted inside the school premises or was primed inside a vehicle; but all we can say is that an explosion occurred in that school at about 2:05 p.m.”, he said.
The bodies of the dead and the injured have been evacuated to Murtala Muhammed Specialist Hospital.
The students came for registration. Most of them had concluded it and after afternoon prayers, and they were about moving out of the premises when the deafening explosion occurred.
Eyewitnesses said among the dead was a Fulani woman who had come to sell Fura Dai Nono in the school.
The Personal Assistant to the School’s Provost, Malam Abdulkarim Umar Bashir, said his boss, Dr. Ado H. Bello, escaped death by the whiskers.
Bashir said: “I just left the mosque after the afternoon prayer and I saw the Provost in his blue Matrix car, trying to park. I immediately went to remove the packing sign-board. On removing it, the provost moved to his packing lot. Within the twinkle of an eye, an explosion occurred, but we thank God that the provost and I are alive.”
The area has been cordoned off with Anti-Bomb Squad men wnet combing the area and evacuating the bodies.
Shinaba said: “As I am talking to you, the wounded have been taken to the hospital. We are doing our best to put the situation under control.”
He urged residents to remain security conscious and report suspicious movements to the police and other security agencies.
The branch executive secretary of the Red Cross in Kano, Alhaji Musa Abdullahi, told this reporter that seven people died and 20 were injured. “They have been evacuated to Murtala Muhammed Specialist Hospital,” Abdullahi said.
No group has claimed responsibility for the incident.
