Police arrest three over Gombe bomb blast

Three suspects have been arrested in connection with Friday morning’s bomb bomb blast at the Gombe Line Transport Service (also known as Central park), Cross, Gombe state.

Kudu Nma, the state commissioner of police, told journalists that the suspects, who arrived in a vehicle with the inscription ‘Yobe Line’, were arrested as they were trying to escape from the scene of the blast.

“A vehicle which was suspected to have carried the bombers who came in with Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) was recovered,” he said.

“Unfortunately for them, they were caught when they were about to run away,” he said.

The explosion had occurred at a time when many passengers were at the park boarding vehicles to various destinations.

There was pandemonium around the area immediately after the incident, as hundreds of youths from different directions descended on the park.

They threw stones at security personnel and other rescue workers who were evacuating corpses and the injured.

The security operatives had to shoot into the air to disperse the rampaging youths.

The bodies of the victims were later conveyed to the Gombe Specialist Hospital, while those injured were also taken to other hospitals for treatment.

At the specialist hospital, a mortuary attendant who pleaded for anonymity said 23 corpses were deposited there.

However, an emergency worker told the TheCable earlier that he had “counted more than 30 bodies” at the start of rescue operations.