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| Frequent bomb blasts create a constant atmosphere of fear in Nigeria |
KADUNA - Bombs exploded in the Nigerian army's 1st Mechanized Division headquarters and the training command of the Nigerian Air Force in Kawo near Kaduna on Tuesday, officials said.
Witnesses said a suicide bomber entered the division and exploded a bomb. The glass windows of the division's headquarters had been blown apart by the power of the explosion.
A second suicide bomber detonated a bomb at the gate of the airforce base on Airport Road while a third bomb exploded under a busy flyover close to Kawo Motor Park killing three people.
As fear and uncertainty spread through the city, soldiers shut off the areas and prevented journalists and the National Emergency Management from reaching the affected areas.
There are unconfirmed reports that as many as 60 people may have died. An unknown number of soldiers and civilians in the area were also injured. Witnesses said they saw injured soldiers wearing blood-drenched uniforms after the blasts.
A primary school was said to have collapsed in the division due to the impact of the blast injuring hundreds of many pupils.
A spokesman for the division said two different cars loaded with explosives rammed through the headquarters' gates.
Maj. Gen. Raphael Isa, an army spokesman, said in a statement that one of the suicide bombers was dressed in a military uniform. Soldiers guarding the gate opened fire on the man, who died from gunshot wounds.
Although no one has claimed responsibility for the blasts, all eyes are on by Boko Haram a group blamed for killing over 1,200 people since last year. The sect's violence comes as part of a campaign its leader Abubakar Shekau describes as avenging Muslim deaths and pushing for strict Shariah law across multiethnic country of 160 million people who are mostly Christian and Muslim.
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