(NIGERIA) The Kano State Police Command said on Wednesday that it had arrested one of the suspected female bombers, Zaharau Babangida, 13, who was alleged to have attacked the Kano textile market two weeks ago in the metropolis.
The suspected bomber said she came all the way from Bauchi to carry out the heinous act in the Kano market.
She told journalists when paraded at the state police command jointly with Department of State Security Service that her father took her and her mother to an unknown forest where they met other terrorists in what was supposed to be their camp.
Zaharau also confessed that her father alongside the people they met at the forest persuaded her into becoming a suicide bomber so as to enter heaven on the day of judgement.
“My father said I should first go to heaven and he would join me later. I was so disturbed and decided to do what they asked me to do.
“It even went to the extent that they told us that if we refused to take part in that operation they would kill us or they would bury us alive,” she said.
In his briefing, the state Police Commissioner, Mr. Aderenle Shinaba, said the police had also apprehended one of the persons who brought the girl to Kano from Bauchi, pointing out that the vehicle in which they brought the girl was now with the security agents.
According to him, the girl was arrested at one of the hospitals in Kano where she went to seek medical treatment following the injuries she sustained after the market blast.
The commissioner also displayed some of the items recovered from her including seven explosives and a power source.
He said the police found it necessary to address the news conference in order to disabuse the minds of the public on the rumour that the spate of bombings in Kano were being perpetrated by a particular tribe.
“We want to disabuse the minds of the public on some insinuations and unfounded rumours that it is the non-indigenes that carry out such heinous acts.
“In view of the various attacks in Kano, one can understand that no particular tribe is responsible for that, likewise it has nothing to do with the government,” he said.
He warned the residents to desist from spreading rumours as the command would not allow
people to take laws into their hands.
Shinaba, who called for the continued support and cooperation of the public, said the police would also continue to treat any information given to its personnel with utmost confidentiality.
In another incident, the Defence Headquarters (DHQ) said yesterday that it had apprehended another suicide bomber who rammed into a military check point in Bajoga, Gombe State yesterday, but failed to achieve his mission.
In a statement by the Director, Defence Information, Major-General Chris Olukolade, DHQ said the bomber’s attempt to escape also failed, as he was brought down by vigilant soldiers when he tried to flee after hitting a military Amoured Personnel Carrier (APC) with his explosives-laden Honda car.
“The explosives which failed to detonate have been evacuated and handed to the police,” DHQ said.
Also in Kano, DHQ revealed that security forces raided the terrorists’ hideout in Nasarawa Local Government Area, leading to the arrest of bomb making experts who are already helping in the investigation into activities of bombers lately.
“Officers believe that the efforts will yield useful clues,” the DHQ said.
It added that troops deployed in all locations of the counter-terrorism campaign had been directed to sustain the tempo of operations all through the period of the yuletide celebrations and ensure that the intention of terrorists to attack civilian target while avoiding troops is frustrated.
(REPORT FROM THISDAY)
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