Bomb blasts have killed at least three people in north-east Nigeria, police said on Monday, in the latest unrest to hit Africa’s most populous nation after presidential elections and ahead of state governorship polls.
Police also said at least 15 were wounded, adding they suspected the Islamist sect known as Boko Haram was behind the attacks on Easter Sunday night at a hotel tavern and transport hub in Maiduguri, as well as a third one on Monday morning.
It was unclear whether the blasts were linked to the unrest that swept across Nigeria’s north last week, leaving more than 500 dead according to a local rights group. Analyst fear the violence might keep some voters away from polling stations on Tuesday.
Maiduguri has long been hit by violence blamed on the Islamist sect.
“From our records the death toll has risen to three, which include a police corporal and two civilians who were at the tavern to have some drinks,” said police commissioner Mike Zuokumor.
He said in the hotel attack 14 people, including two children playing outside its tavern, were wounded, and an officer was injured in Monday’s attack.
“We also had another bomb blast this morning targeting a police team,” said Zuokumor, adding that two attackers on a motorbike tossed a home-made bomb at a police patrol van, seriously wounding one policeman.
The explosions at the hotel and transport hub on Sunday night occurred nearly simultaneously, with the two locations not far apart. Two blasts hit the hotel and one hit the station for buses and communal taxis.
Police said they suspected the Boko Haram sect in all the attacks.
‘Waging jihad’
The sect is seen as opposed to the ruling party in Borno state, where Maiduguri is the capital, and some of the recent violence blamed on the group is believed to have been politically motivated.
Most of Nigeria’s 36 states will hold governorship elections on Tuesday, including Borno, where the All Nigeria Peoples Party is in power.
Zuokumor said police were on the alert for Tuesday’s vote. “We will not be daunted by terrorists.”
Boko Haram had distributed fliers earlier on Sunday warning of further attacks, saying “we are fighters waging jihad in Nigeria”.
“We will never accept any system of governance apart from the one described by Islam because that is the only way Muslims can be liberated,” the fliers said. “We do not respect the Nigerian government because it is illegal.
“We will continue to fight its military and police because they are not protecting Islam.”
The sect launched an uprising in 2009 put down by a brutal military assault that left hundreds dead. In recent months, it has been blamed for a series of attacks and shootings, most of them in Maiduguri.
Violence had earlier marred the campaign ahead of the vote in Borno, including the assassination of one of the leading governorship candidates.
At least four other explosions have hit Maiduguri in recent weeks, including one the night before the April 16 presidential election and one the day of the vote.
Two explosions also hit Maiduguri on the day of the April 9 parliamentary polls.
Rioting swept across northern Nigeria a week ago in the wake of the presidential election won by incumbent Goodluck Jonathan, a southern Christian.
Jonathan’s main rival was ex-military ruler Muhammadu Buhari, a Muslim from the north.
“Some people may not necessarily turn out [on Tuesday] fearing an outbreak of violence,” said Musa Rafsanjani, director of the Civil Society Legislative Centre.
US and European diplomats have called for “an end to all acts of violence”.
Nigeria’s 150-million population is roughly divided in half between a mainly Muslim north and predominantly Christian south.
The north has long been economically marginalised compared to the oil-rich south, helping fuel last week’s riots. – AFP