Imported User:
A suicide bomber on Thursday, attacked the Abuja office of ThisDay Newspapers. The office is located at Jabi.
LEADERSHIP gathered that the attack was carried out by a bomber who drove into the media house through the rear gate in a Toyota Jeep with registration number BU389 BWR and rammed the car into the Press/production Unit.
The explosive ripped through the building and shattered its roof.
Although no official figures have been released, it was gathered that no fewer than seven persons were killed in the blast, with many injured.
Meanwhile, another blast hit a two-storey building at Kontagora Road by Ahmadu Bello Way in Kaduna. The building houses ThisDay, The Sun and The Moment Newspapers.
Eyewitnesses told our correspondent that the bomber drove into the premises in a new Honda car. After planting the bomb in the car, he began to walk away but was accosted by passersby who were suspicious of his movement.
They beat him up and asked him to deactivate the bomb. Before he could do so, the bomb went off. The number of deaths hasn’t been confirmed but over twenty persons are critically injured. The bomber has been arrested.
Speaking at the ThisDay office Abuja, Mr Yushau Shuaib a National Emergency Management Agency spokesman said, “They are trying to move those injured to the hospitals, but we don’t have any information on casualties yet.”
A member of staff told our correspondent that support staff and security men were worst hit by the explosion, even as charred human parts littered the surrounding.
When asked about the casualty level, FCT Commissioner of Police, Sinaba said: “We are not concerned about the dead now but the injured”, adding that he was in no position to make such disclosures.
On the Kaduna blast, he said: “As you can see, I am not in Kaduna, I am in Abuja.”
The comptroller-general of the Federal Fire Service after inspecting the blast site said: “From what we gathered, a suicide bomber rammed his vehicle into the ThisDay building and reports suggest there could a secondary bomb which may explode anytime.”
Former minister of the FCT, Malam Nasir el-Rufai was one of the early callers at the scene. Addressing pressmen, he said: “Well I came in as a member of the editorial board, I am very saddened. I can only say Inna Lillahi Wa Inna Ilahi Rajiun literally meaning from God we came and to Him we shall return.”
