Death Toll Now 10 In Gombe Bus Station Blast

The death toll from an explosion near a bus station in Gombe, northeast Nigeria, has risen to 10, a doctor and nurse at the hospital treating the injured told AFP on Friday.

“We received 10 dead bodies from the blast at the Bauchi motor park (bus station),” a doctor at the Gombe Specialist Hospital said, requesting anonymity as he is not authorised to speak to the media.

“Five of the dead were claimed by relatives. We still have five others in the morgue. Eight people are now in the emergency ward being treated for wounds sustained during the blast.”

The blast happened at about 8:30 pm (1930 GMT) on Thursday after a woman enquired about the destination of a bus leaving for the central city of Jos at the terminus, witnesses said.

It bore the hallmarks of the Islamist militant group Boko Haram, who have hit a number of bus stations and crowded markets in recent weeks, including with suicide bombers.

A nurse at the Gombe Specialist Hospital, who also asked to remain anonymous, confirmed the death toll and said of the injured: “Eight people are now responding to treatment.

“The wounds are mostly cuts and burns.”