30 killed in Nigeria car bomb attack

Nairobi, Oct 31 (EFE) At least 30 people were killed Friday when a car bomb exploded in a crowded bus station in the northeastern Nigerian state of Gombe, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) told media.

The explosion occurred during the morning rush hour at the popular bus station, according to a NEMA official.

"I have counted more than 30 bodies, but the toll is likely to rise," the official was cited as saying by the Nigerian daily The Cable.

Another official from the State Security Service confirmed many people were wounded and killed in the attack, although the death toll has not yet been confirmed.

Police cordoned off the area to allow emergency services to rescue the survivors, the Premium Times newspaper reported.

The Boko Haram Islamist radical group has staged several attacks in crowded bus stations in recent months, most recently in the town of Azare, where at least five people died.

The group last week kidnapped at least 60 women after the Nigerian army announced it had reached an agreement with the extremists for a ceasefire and the release of 200 girls abducted last April.

But the girls have not been freed.

According to the Nigerian government, Boko Haram has killed more than 3,000 people since the beginning of the year in its campaign to impose Islamic Sharia law and reject Western values in the country.

--IANS/EFE

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