Following a bomb explosion which rocked a popular viewing centre in Damaturu,Yobe State, shortly after the kick-off match between Brazil and Mexico in the ongoing World Cup leaving at least 26 football fans wounded and 14 dead, 2 lucky survivors recounts their ordeal:
Survivor Babagana Mohammed who regained consciousness at the hospital said, “The bomb just threw me and I didn’t even know where I was.”
Musa Mohammed said, ‘I just stooped by the viewing center to get airtime for my phone when i heard a loud explosion, It was just like a flash of light and many people were killed. Some were amputated … But thank God mine was a lesser injury
According to the Police Assistant Superintendent Nathan Cheghan, the explosion came from an abandoned car parked in front of the viewing center but an eyewitness claimed a suicide bomber drove a tricycle taxi packed with explosives into the area.
Mr Cheghan who blamed the attack on Boko Haram said such viewing centers were prohibited in Yobe state two months ago because they had become a target of the deadly terrorist group.
Mike Omeri, a federal government spokesman on the insurgency, hinted on Wednesday, June 18, 2014 that Boko Haram planned to attack crowded areas in Abuja, the capital in the centre of the country, with fuel tankers loaded with deadly explosive devices.
Security experts had therefore warned members of the public to avoid rowdy places as the Islamic militants might attack innocent fans watching the World Cup in Nigeria, Kenya and Uganda, as they did in 2010.
The explosions that occurred in Kampala and Uganda, during the 2010 World Cup final at a viewing center killed 74 people.
