This is not
something to Cheer about – Courtesy Yahoo!
A suicide bomber detonated a tricycle
taxi packed with explosives at an outdoor World Cup viewing center in a
northeast Nigerian city Tuesday night, and witnesses said several people were
killed.
Hospital workers said the death likely
will raise with 15 people critically wounded and casualties still coming in to
the main hospital at Damaturu, capital of Yobe state.
Police Assistant Superintendent Nathan
Cheghan confirmed the explosion but said rescue workers were being careful for
fear of secondary explosions. Islamic extremists of the Boko Haram group
frequently time secondary explosions to kill people who rush to the scene of a
bomb blast.
Cheghan said he had no casualty
figures.
There was no immediate claim for the
blast. Witnesses were blaming on Boko Haram fighters, who have targeted
football viewing centers and sports bars in the past. Two explosions in recent
weeks killed at least 40 people in two northern cities.
Witnesses said the tricycle taxi was
driven into the outdoor area soon after the Brazil-Mexico match started Tuesday
night. All spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
One hospital worker said he saw at
least seven bodies. Another said 15 casualties were in intensive care. Both
asked that their names not be published because they are not authorized to
speak to reporters.
Nigeria's military has promised
increased security but appears incapable of halting a stream of attacks by
extremists holding more than 250 schoolgirls hostage.
The kidnapping of the girls two months
ago and failure of Nigeria's military and government to rescue them has roused
international concern. The United States is searching for the girls with drones
and has sent experts along with Britain and France to help in counter-terrorism
tactics and hostage negotiation.
Boko Haram's leader Abubakar Shekau has
threatened to sell the girls into slavery unless the government agrees to
exchange them for detained extremists, but President Goodluck Jonathan has said
he will not exchange prisoners. Nigeria's military has said it knows where the
girls are but that any military campaign could get them killed.
Boko Haram wants to enforce an Islamic
state in Nigeria, Africa's biggest oil producer with a population almost
equally divided between Christians and Muslims.
