The Buckingham

Photo Credit: www.voanews.com

Kano, the second largest Nigerian city, has a death toll of at least 131 and may even have more than 150 from Jan. 20th’s bomb attack.

The city had a strict 24-hour curfew for another night as shocked police attempted to come to terms with the loss of some colleagues, as well as the security lapse that unfortunately allowed at least six attacker teams to strike at the same time.  Kano is currently under a news blackout as police search the city for suspects.

The targets of the bombs were mostly the city’s main police headquarters, including the office of the State Security Service.

There is indications that many officers died, however it it impossible to know the exact number.

At one hospital alone there is around 130 dead bodies, and 36 people with injuries.  The two other hospitals where victims were taken have not provided any numbers, which has made it hard to verify an exact death toll.

The Islamist radical group Boko Haram is currently claiming responsibility for the bombings.  The alleged reason why the police facilities were targeted is because authories haven’t released arrested members of the group.

Boko Haram is also to blame for other bombings in the past year, including one on Christmas Day that killed dozens of worshippers at a Catholic church.  The name Boko Haram translates into “Western education is sacriligious,” in the Hausa language of northern Nigeria.

Nigeria, which has a population of around 160 million, is pretty evenly divided between the predominantly Muslim north and the mostly Christian south.