Female bomber strikes near Jonathan’s rally

A suicide bomber blew herself up on Monday afternoon on a road very close to the Pantami Stadium in Gombe, Gombe state, just 20 minutes after President Goodluck Jonathan rounded off his presidential campaign rally in the stadium.

A top security source who confirmed the news to TheCable said five people, including the bomber, died at first count, while seven others were injured.

He said the blast occurred 20 minutes after President Jonathan ended the rally, adding that the president was just arriving the Gombe airport at the time.

“It was a suicide bomber, a woman. She detonated the  bomb inside a car. She succeeded in killing herself and four other people. Seven people were injured as well,” he said.

“The road where it happened is very close to the Water Port office, close to the stadium where the president just finished campaigning. One man who was in the car by the main road was blown to shreds.”

Only on Sunday, a suicide bomber believed to be a member of Boko Haram detonated a bomb at the Timber Market in Gombe, killing and injuring an unspecified number of people.

Two weeks earlier, a suicide bomber blew up himself on in the highly-populated Arawa area of the city, killing “more than 15 people” at first count.

That attack itself came three days after a bomb exploded beside a mosque in Tasomacha near Gombe state university, Gombe, killing an unspecified number of people.

On New Year’s Eve, a bomb went off at 301 Mammy Market, situated inside the only military barracks in the city, while on New Year’s Day, the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) in Tudun Wada, Gombe, was bombed.

Photo credit: Reuters