[wanabidii] Fw: Bombs rips through Jos inner city at least 118 People were killed and dozens injured

On Thursday, May 22, 2014 9:53 AM, "ANS@Assist-Ministries.com" <ANS@Assist-Ministries.com> wrote:

ASSIST News Service (ANS) - PO Box 609, Lake Forest, CA 92609-0609 USA Visit our web site at: www.assistnews.net -- E-mail: assistnews@aol.com Wednesday, May 21, 2014 Bombs rips through Jos inner city at least 118 People were killed and dozens injured By Helen Bako of Nigerian Women Against Violence Special to ASSIST News Service JOS, NIGERIA (ANS) -- Dark Smoke rose over Jos, a city in the Middle Belt of Nigeria, after two car bombs exploded at the bus terminal and market which is frequented by thousands of people, on Tuesday afternoon, May 20, 2014. A scene of mayhem in Jos after the first bomb blast The blast killed at least 118 people, wounding dozens more. The blasts could be heard miles away and clouds of black smoke rose above the city as rescue workers raced to reach the area where the blast occurred as thousands of people fled the area. This comes just one day after a suicide car bomber killed 25 people in northern Kano city on Monday May 19th. Police in Kano, a walled city, detonated a second car bomb on Monday. They said both bombs would have killed many people but the first exploded before it reached its target of restaurants and bars in the Christian quarter of the predominately Muslim city. Tensions have been rising between Christians and Muslims in Jos, the capital of Plateau state, in a region that divides the country into the predominantly Muslim north and Christian south. It is a flashpoint for religious violence. Boko Haram has claimed other recent bomb attacks, including two separate bomb blasts in April that killed more than 120 people and wounded more than 200 in Abuja, the nation's c apital. One went off at Abuja's busy bus station. An injured woman is carried after bombs exploded at a bus terminal and market in Jos, Nigeria, Tuesday, May 20, 2014 One of Nigerian newspapers, "Leadership", reported that one of their staff was at the scene of the explosions in Jos, and said the first went off at around 10 minutes to 3:00pm and the second bomb exploded 20 minutes after the first and took place while sympathizers and onlookers gathered at the scene of the first blast to see the extent of damage. An eyewitness, who spoke with a Leadership correspondent said that he counted over 178 corpses burnt beyond recognition, which has caused confusion as to the actual death toll. According to the eyewitness, the blast came with a huge conflagration which, he said, scourged most of the victims. The suicide bombers came in two buses wired with explosive devices which went off simultaneously around the ever-busy Terminus Market area where second-hand shoe dealers sold their wares, close to the Nigeria Railway terminus, close to the new site of Jos University Teaching Hospital. The shocking scene of charred bodies after a bomb went off in Jos A Leadership correspondent, who visited the scene of the attacks, said he counted over 50 corpses while the commissioner of police of the Plateau State command, Chris Olakpe, confirmed that 46 persons were killed and 47 others injured. The correspondent observed that there were heaps of burnt dead bodies on the ground while others were being conveyed in wheelbarrows to a waiting ambulance. Also, human parts littered the spot where the blasts occurred. Another eyewitness said he observed two cars parked very early in the morning and nobody suspected that the vehicles were laden with dangerous explosives until they went off. Some of the victims who received various degrees of injuries were taken to the Plateau State Specialist Hospital and Bingham University Teaching Hospital. A survivor of the blast, who gave her name as Chidima, sells second-hand shoes in the area. She told Leadership that the bombers came in a brand new Toyota Sienna bus with Plateau Barkin Ladi on its regis tration plate. According to her, she was in her shop when she heard a big sound which threw her to the ground as there was fire everywhere. She said she saw so many dead bodies on the ground while others were burnt beyond recognition. She said people were still burning in their shops when the second bomb went off and, all the sympathizers began to scatter for safety. Although there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the twin car bombs, the attack bears the marks of Boko Haram. Trying to put out the flames in the Jos market Boko Haram is an Islamist terrorist group, whose name means, "Western Education is Sinful." The group's main aims is the opposition of what it considers to be the secular "Westernization" of Nigeria, especially co-educational learning and democratic elections; and the creation of an Islamic state in Nigeria, or at least in the country's majority Muslim northern states. The Group has been active in Nigeria since 2002, when it was founded by Muhammad Yusuf. (Ironically Yusuf himself was a university graduate.) The Nigerian government has opposed Boko Haram, and in July 2009 temporarily, quashed an uprising by the group across north-eastern Nigeria Killing its leader Yusuf and some of Boko Haram's members. In July 2010, Yusuf's former second- in command, Abubakar Shekau emerged from hiding as Boko Haram's new leader. Shekau announced in a statement released to journalists that "jihad has begun" Since July 2010 Nigeria has experienced both resurgence of Boko Haram militancy and an evolution to more sophisticated attac ks and jihadist ideology. Since then more than 3,500 people have been killed. Boko Haram fighers The militant group since 2010 has targeted churches, government agencies, and mosques. The group has reached out for help to other jihadist groups, including Al-Qaeda leaders, such as Ayman al-Zawahri and the late Abu Musa'ab al-Zarqawi, as well as Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and Al-Shabaab. In January 2012 Boko Haram's leader, Abubakar Shekau, issued a video message in which he threatened to kidnap the wives of government officials in response to the Nigerian government imprisoning the wives of Boko Haram members (Associated Press, 27 January 2012). Shekau made clear his intention to target "enemy" women in return. Since 2010, Shekau has made good his promise to target enemy women and children as evidenced by the Chibok girls kidnapping. The year, 2013, saw a shift in Boko Haram's ideology and its operations and messaging and an escalation and extensive targeting, abduction and kidnapping of women and children. In February 2013, Boko Haram abducted seven-member French family in northern Cameroon, an d brought them back to Nigeria (The Guardian, April 19, 2013). In May 2013, Boko Haram carried out a mass assault on a police barracks in Bama, Borno State, abducting 12 Christian women, and children. Shekau claimed the kidnappings of these 12 women and children in Boko Haram's name. He then promised to make them his "servants." Helen Bako, is Nigerian born Children's Social Worker, who now lives in Southern California. Ms. Bako has been a social worker for over twenty years. She is currently working for the County of Los Angeles with the Department of Children and Family Services as an Emergency Response Social Worker and has worked for the County for over 17 years. She also runs Nigerian Women Against Violence, a grass-roots organization of women dedicated to uncovering violence in Nigeria and doing what they can to make it stop. For more information, contact Helen Bako, Nigerian Women Against Violence. Telephone: (714) 673-7770, (714) 673-77FAX: (714) 734-8305, E-mail: bakohe@aol.com Call Send SMS Add to Skype You'll need Skype CreditFree via Skype     See all ASSIST News articles at www.assistnews.net ** You may republish this story with proper attribution. Send this story to a friend. If this story has been forwarded to you, click here for your own subscription to Assist News. If you no longer wish to receive Assist News via e-mail, click here to unsubscribe. Note to our subscribers: We are conducting a survey to find out how each of our stories are being used around the world. 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