Twenty-four (24) worshippers, yesterday, sustained varying degrees of injury following a dawn explosion inside a mosque, at Gidan village in Gezawa Local Government Area of Kano State.
The explosion, which occurred during Subhi muslim prayers, injured 30 male adults and four male children as well as triggered fresh panic within the neighbourhood of the town.
The Kano State Police Command, which confirmed the explosion, explained that all the victims were immediately rushed to the Murtala Mohammed Specialists Hospital for medical attention.
The Police Public Relations Officer, Abdullahi Haruna Kiyawa, in a statement, said the police have arrested the principal suspect behind the bomb explosion, one 38-year-old Shafiu Abubakar.
“On receipt of the report, the Commissioner of Police, Kano State Command, Mohammed Usaini Gumel, immediately deployed the command’s combined teams, consisting of experts in Explosive Ordnance Disposal Chemical Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (EOD-CBRN) led by CSP Haruna Isma’il and other Crime-Scene Policemen led by Divisional Police Officer (DPO), Gezawa Division, CSP Haruna Iliya. Forensic analysis at this preliminary stage revealed a suspected petrol explosion of which a full investigation is ongoing,” the statement said.
The police command said the suspect, during interrogation, confessed to have been motivated by a prolonged family disagreement over the sharing of inheritance, adding that those responsible for his marginalisation were in the mosque at the time he struck.
“Detailed investigation is ongoing and will be made public in due course,” the statement revealed.
