The 2014 Kano bombing was a terrorist attack on 28 November 2014, at the Central Mosque (Grand Mosque) in Kano, the biggest city in the mainly Muslim Northern Nigeria during the Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria. The mosque is next to the palace of the Emir of Kano, Muhammad Sanusi II, Nigeria's second most senior Muslim cleric, who had urged the civilians to protect themselves by arming up against Boko Haram. Two suicide bombers blew themselves up and gunmen opened fire on those who were trying to escape. Around 120 people were killed and another 260 injured.
Background On 25 November, two female suicide bombers killed over 45 people in a crowded market in Maiduguri, Borno State. On 27 November, around 50 people were killed in Damasak by the Boko Haram militants. A bomb attack was also foiled near a mosque in Maiduguri hours before the Kano bombings. A roadside bomb, suspected to be remote-controlled, was defused.
Bombings The attack occurred on 28 November 2014 when the Friday prayer was under way. Three bombs were detonated when the prayers had just started. According to an eyewitness, two blasts were in the courtyard, while the third was on a nearby road. Another eyewitness said, "The imam was about to start prayer when he saw somebody in a car trying to force himself into the mosque. But when people stopped him, he detonated the explosions. People started running helter-skelter." Following the explosions, gunmen opened fire at people. According to national police spokesman Emmanuel Ojukwu, the angry mob killed four gunmen after the shootings.Scores killed in mosque attack in Nigerian city of Kano, FRANCE 24 with AFP and REUTERS, 29 November 2014. Archived from the original on 1 December 2014.
Aftermath Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan condemned the attacks and ordered the national security services "to launch a full-scale investigation and to leave no stone unturned until all agents of terror undermining the right of every citizen to life and dignity are tracked down and brought to justice". In December 2014, the leader of the Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, accused the emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, of deviating from Islam and threatened to kill him.National Post: "Boko Haram kidnaps 191, murders dozens as the group threatens Muslim leader for telling Nigerians to fight back" by Mustapha Muhammad 18 December 2014Daily Post: "Kano blast: 150 worshipers killed in ‘Sanusi’s Mosque’ after he travelled to Saudi Arabia" by Ameh Comrade Godwin 29 November 2014
According to reports, upon a request for help from Nigeria, Britain was considering sending military trainers to aid the Nigerian military in resisting the Boko Haram terrorist attacks.
See also List of massacres in Nigeria 2013 Kano Bus bombing January 2012 Nigeria attacks
References