Nigerian soldiers: attacked by Mob in Gombe, with stones

A mob spontaneously formed today at the north east Nigerian city of Gombe, at Dukku Bus Station, scene of another deadly bomb attack, believed to have been planted by Boko Haram.

The object of the mob’s anger: Nigeria’s security forces.

A Witness at the scene, Awwalu Lame said the mob threw stones at the security services as anger boiled to the fore, over the increasing impotence of Nigeria’s army in containing the insurgency and the deadly bomb traps. The mob was also angry that the security forces would always emerge after an attack has been carried out against Unarmed civilians.

The latest bomb at Dukku Bus Station, killed at least 20 persons, the Red Cross said.

The bomb was planted near a bus that was filling up with passengers, said Mato Yakubu of the National Orientation Agency, a government body responsible for the media.

He said the blast occurred at 10:50 am (0950 GMT) at the station on the outskirts of Gombe city, capital of Gombe state.

The same city was hit by a triple bombing blamed on the Islamists on October 31.

The state shares a border with Borno and Yobe, two of the states worst affected by Boko Haram’s five-year insurgency which has cost more than 13,000 lives.

The Islamists have claimed a number of attacks at bus stations, often targeting people who are heading to Nigeria’s mainly Christian south.

While experts agree that isolated bombings are extremely difficult to stop, the broader military response to the extremist uprising has been widely criticised.

President Goodluck Jonathan, who is running for a second term, has on several occasions claimed that Boko Haram’s defeat was imminent, even as the violence has escalated.

And now, it is believed that the Boko Haram violence may prevent the 14 February election from holding in the North east part of the country.

The insurgency has forced more than 1.5 million people from their homes, straining resources in the embattled northeast, as communities struggle to care for those displaced.

Underscoring the severity of the crisis, 185 people, mostly women and children, were kidnapped on December 14 from the town of Gumsuri in Borno.

The attack recalled the kidnapping of more than 200 schoolgirls from a school in the town of Chibok in April, a mass abduction that Jonathan vowed would not happen again.

The president’s opponent in February polls, ex-military dictator Muhammadu Buhari from the mainly Muslim north, is seen by some as better placed to contain the Boko Haram threat, but experts say he may struggle to unseat an incumbent with the backing of a wealthy ruling party.