By Andy Juwa, Jos
Residents of Jos have put the blame for the explosions that rocked the busy Terminus Market in the Plateau State capital yesterday to lax security.
More than 30 persons were killed Thursday evening when twin bombs were set off in the popular market just as Muslims were preparing for prayers. The attack, it is believed, was executed by two suicide bombers who had strapped explosives to their bodies, detonating the bombs almost simultaneously within the area.
Security had been beefed up and street trading banned around the market after bombs exploded a few metres from the scene of yesterday’s incident in May, this year, during which more than 110 people were killed.
However, after a series of petitions, court cases and appeals, the state government was forced to relax some of the tight security measures, leading to a return of hawking and a congestion of the market and its surroundings.
Blaming Thursday’s attack on activities such as unchecked street hawking and the booming commercial activities that often take place at night, residents insist that at least 10 people were killed in the first blast while about 29 more died in the second bomb explosion while many more were seriously injured.
A security expert resident in Jos, Eunice Sambo, blamed the incident on the relaxing of the security measures put in place by government which allowed “all kinds of unrestricted commercial and other activities around the market.”
“How long shall we continue to provide temporary solution to this problem? If you set a law on a particular issue, why bend your laws to suit some people’s greed? Jos needs a permanent solution to this security issue; the Terminus Market and other flashpoints in Jos need to be decongested once and for all,” she said.
According to Sambo, who has suffered personal losses from the series of attacks in Jos, “neighbourhood watch should be taken seriously because we are living in trying times.”
Speaking on the attack, the public relations officer for National Emergency Management Agency NEMA, in the North- Central Zone, Yohanna Audu,, said agency was working towards ascertaining the casualty level and assisting the injured while Abdulsalam Mohammed, another spokesman for the agency, also disclosed that bomb disposal experts were on the look-out for yet-undetonated bombs in the vicinity.
Witnesses who spoke with the Associated Press, AP, said that the first explosion occurred at an outdoor food stand while the second blast went off at the nearby entrance to the Terminus Market, which is situated at the city centre.
The National Emergency Management Agency NEMA has accounted for 17 deaths but other sources insist that many more people were killed in the attack.
Plateau State has been a hotbed of ethno-religious extremism in the recent past, with a history of several violent clashes that have claimed many lives.
No group or persons have claimed responsibility for Thursday’s attack as at the time of this report.