A bomb explosion was reported to have gone off at Kano
central mosque this afternoon as Muslim faithfuls were
holding their Friday Jumat service. It was reported that it is
the usual mosque the emir of Kano Sanusi Lamido usually
leads prayers but he was not present this afternoon. Its said
that many were feard dead and many more have been
injured.




However, latest report reveals that at least 120 people were
killed and 270 others wounded on Friday when two suicide
bombers blew themselves up and gunmen opened fire during
weekly prayers at the mosque of one of Nigeria’s top Islamic
leaders.
The attack at the Grand Mosque

[img]http://4.bp..com/-5qBNJJwUROI/VHlkWMM1H_I/AAAAAAABpEk/SmKE_ADjLCk/s1600/1.jpg[/img]

The attack at the Grand Mosque in Kano, the biggest city in the
mainly Muslim north of the country, came just as Friday
prayers had started.
The mosque is attached to the palace of the Emir of Kano
Muhammad Sanusi II, Nigeria’s second most senior Muslim
cleric, who last week urged civilians to take up arms against
Boko Haram.

http://www.9jahomeland.com/kano-bomb-blast-update-least-120-dead-270-injured-kano-mosque-suicide-attack/

The blasts came after a bomb attack was foiled against a
mosque in the northeastern city of Maiduguri earlier on
Friday, five days after two female suicide bombers killed over
45 people in the city.

National police spokesman Emmanuel Ojukwu told AFP that
the bombers blew themselves up in quick succession then
“gunmen opened fire on those who were trying to escape”.
Ojukwu said he did not know whether the suicide bombers
were male or female, after a spate of attacks by women in
recent months, and did not give an exact figure on the
number of gunmen.


But he said an angry mob killed four of the shooters in the
chaotic aftermath. Witnesses in the city said they were set on
fire.
– Influential figure –
An AFP reporter at the Murtala Mohammed Specialist Hospital
morgue counted 92 bodies, most of them men and boys with
blast injuries and severe burns.
As night fell, hundreds of people were desperately trying to
use the lights on their mobile phones to identify loved ones.
But a senior rescue official said later that there were at least
120 dead and 270 wounded. Emergency workers were still
trying to visit all hospitals, he added.

The Emir of Kano last week told worshippers at the same
mosque that northerners should take up arms against Boko
Haram, which has been fighting for a hardline Islamic state
since 2009.
He also cast doubt on Nigerian troops’ ability to protect
civilians and end the insurgency, in rare public comments by
a cleric on political and military affairs.


The emir, who is currently thought to be out of the country, is
a hugely influential figure in Nigeria, which is home to more
than 80 million Muslims, most of whom live in the north.
Officially the emir is the country’s number two cleric, behind
the Sultan of Sokoto, and any attack could inflame tensions in
Nigeria’s second city, which is an ancient seat of Islamic
learning.
Sanusi was named emir earlier this year and is a prominent
figure in his own right, having previously served as the
governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria.
During his time in charge of the CBN, he spoke out against
mive government fraud and was suspended from his post in
February just as his term of office was drawing to a close.
– Previous attacks –


Boko Haram has repeatedly attacked Kano. On November 14,
a suicide bomb attack at a petrol station killed six people,
including three police.
The Islamists have a record of attacking prominent clerics. In
July 2012 a suicide bomber killed five people leaving Friday
prayers at the home of the Shehu of Borno in Maiduguri.
The Shehu is Nigeria’s number three Islamic leader.
Boko Haram threatened Sanusi’s predecessor and the Sultan
of Sokoto for allegedly betraying the faith by submitting to the
authority of the secular government in Abuja.
In early 2013, the convoy of Sanusi’s predecessor was also
attacked.


Andrew Noakes, co-ordinator of the Nigeria Security Network
of security analysts, said the attack fit a pattern of violence
targeting religious and traditional leaders seen as “allies” of the
state.

He said it was possible that the group carried out the attack as
a direct response to Sanusi’s comments last week, although it
may have been planned beforehand.
“Whatever the case, the group has sent a message to northern
leaders that crossing them will have consequences,” Noakes
said in an email exchange.
Boko Haram attacks in recent months have ranged from the
far northeast of Nigeria, across the wider north and
northwest, using hit-and-run tactics, suicide bombings and
car bombs.




The authorities in Cameroon, Chad and Niger have all
expressed concern about Boko Haram’s ability to conduct
cross-border strikes, particularly as the dry season
approaches.

http://www.9jahomeland.com/kano-bomb-blast-update-least-120-dead-270-injured-kano-mosque-suicide-attack/

May God protect us

I hope all the blood you spilt before and during your reign as Emir was worth it.