Two bomb explosions were witnessed on Sunday afternoon in Gombe metropolis killing five people including the perpetrators of the blasts barely twenty hours before President Goodluck Jonathan’s campaign visit to the State.
THISDAY checks revealed that the blasts which occurred within an interval of five minutes occurred at the gate of the old Gombe market in the heart of the town around 2:50 pm while the second occurred about five minutes later at the timber market which is directly behind the 301 Artillery Regiment Quarter Guard of the Nigerian Army.
According to eye witness accounts, the blast at the old Gombe market claimed the lives of a man and woman on a motorcycle at the main road directly opposite one of the gates of the market.
It was however not clear as at the time of filing this report whether the man riding the motorcycle had the same mission with the woman or if he was just a commercial motorcyclist because it was learnt that the explosives were hidden inside a food flask the woman was carrying.
An eye witness, Sanusi Abubakar who was at the scene of the market explosion told reporters that the man and woman who came down from the motorcycle and headed towards the market gate refused to be searched by the security and went back to the motorcycle.
It was also gathered that the bomb ripped-off when the security man followed them to inquire why they refused security check. He was said to have sustained serious injuries and was rushed to the hospital.
When our correspondent headed towards the second scene of the blast about a kilometre apart, it was learnt that the explosion claimed the lives of three people, a kiosk owner, a food vendor and an on-looker. Several people including a soldier were said to have sustained injuries during the explosion which happened directly opposite a military check point.
In the meantime, the Gombe Police Command has banned the use motorcycles in the State capital from Sunday until Wednesday, 4th February 2015 because of the campaign visit of President Goodluck Jonathan of the PDP and his rival, General Muhammadu Buhari (Rtd) of the APC on 2nd and 3rd February, 2015 respectively.
The Command’s spokesman, Fwaje Atajiri, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) in a telephone interview with newsmen announced the motorcycle ban and also confirmed the occurrence of the twin blasts but said investigations were still ongoing. Thisday
