7 dead in bombings at Nigerian newspaper offices
Source: Agencies |
April 27, 2012, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
A SUICIDE bomber detonated a car loaded with explosives yesterday at the office of a major Nigerian newspaper in the country's capital and another man threw a bomb near another newspaper office in Kaduna, killing at least seven people in the attacks, witnesses said.
The attack in Abuja struck the offices of ThisDay, an influential daily newspaper. The bombing in Kaduna struck a building housing offices for ThisDay, The Moment and The Daily Sun newspapers, witnesses said.
No group claimed responsibility for the attacks, though they mirrored others previously carried out by the radical Islamist sect Boko Haram responsible for hundreds of deaths in Nigeria this year alone.
In Abuja, the suicide bomber rammed his car through the gates of the ThisDay office and drove into the reception area before the explosion, said Nwakpa O Nwakpa, a spokesman for the Nigerian Red Cross. The blast killed at least three people and wounded others, Nwakpa said. The suicide bomber died in the blast, he said.
Soldiers and police officers quickly surrounded the building, which had part of its roof torn away and all its windows blown out by the force of the explosion. The blast focused on the end of the building with the newspaper's printing press, while the newsroom sat far away from the blast.
The attack in Kaduna also included a car loaded with explosives, though people at the newspaper office quickly surrounded the car, witnesses said. The driver then began shouting there was a bomb inside the car, witness Jemilu Abdullahi said.
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, Abdullahi said. At least four people died in that blast, Nwakpa said. Authorities later arrested the bomber.
It is unclear why bombers targeted ThisDay, a newspaper owned by media mogul Nduka Obaigbena. In 2002, rioting over an article published by ThisDay suggesting the Prophet Muhammad would have married a Miss World pageant contestant killed dozens in Kaduna.
The attack in Abuja struck the offices of ThisDay, an influential daily newspaper. The bombing in Kaduna struck a building housing offices for ThisDay, The Moment and The Daily Sun newspapers, witnesses said.
No group claimed responsibility for the attacks, though they mirrored others previously carried out by the radical Islamist sect Boko Haram responsible for hundreds of deaths in Nigeria this year alone.
In Abuja, the suicide bomber rammed his car through the gates of the ThisDay office and drove into the reception area before the explosion, said Nwakpa O Nwakpa, a spokesman for the Nigerian Red Cross. The blast killed at least three people and wounded others, Nwakpa said. The suicide bomber died in the blast, he said.
Soldiers and police officers quickly surrounded the building, which had part of its roof torn away and all its windows blown out by the force of the explosion. The blast focused on the end of the building with the newspaper's printing press, while the newsroom sat far away from the blast.
The attack in Kaduna also included a car loaded with explosives, though people at the newspaper office quickly surrounded the car, witnesses said. The driver then began shouting there was a bomb inside the car, witness Jemilu Abdullahi said.
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, Abdullahi said. At least four people died in that blast, Nwakpa said. Authorities later arrested the bomber.
It is unclear why bombers targeted ThisDay, a newspaper owned by media mogul Nduka Obaigbena. In 2002, rioting over an article published by ThisDay suggesting the Prophet Muhammad would have married a Miss World pageant contestant killed dozens in Kaduna.
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