10 killed in Bauchi state cash machine blast

Posted by admin Bauchi, Headlines, State News Friday, November 7th, 2014

At least 10 people have been killed in a bomb blast as they queued to withdraw money from a cash machine in northern Nigeria, residents have told the BBC.

They say the attacker approached the queue with a parcel before it exploded in Azare, Bauchi state.

No group has said it carried out the attack but suspicion is likely to fall on Islamist militant group Boko Haram.

The group has killed thousands since 2009 in its campaign to set up an Islamic state in north-eastern Nigeria.

Boko Haram has in the past claimed responsibility for similar attacks in the north.

The attack took place outside the branch of the First Bank in Azare.

One eyewitness told the BBC he heard an explosion and then turned to see clouds of smoke.

“After the smoke had dissipated, we saw a number of bodies – I saw with my own eyes at least nine bodies without heads or limbs,” he said.

The BBC’s Ishaq Khalid in Bauchi state says many people from the neighbouring states of Borno and Yobe go to Azare to withdraw money as they have no banks in their areas or the cash machines are not working.

Borno and Yobe are two of the states worst affected by the Boko Haram insurgency.
-BBCwp_posts