The incident, which occurred at about 2.00pm at Dakasoye village, Garun Mallam local government area in Kano , affected mostly women and children, including one of the suicide bombers, while one suspect was apprehended by the organisers of the Shia Procession.
According to the media team leader of the 2015 Arba’een symbolic trek, Ibrahim Usman, confirmed in a statement the number of persons that died and the arrest of one of the suspects.
In a separate statement posted on the website of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, Usman claimed two bombers had broken into the midst of the trekkers during the procession, but one was apprehended before he could detonate his explosive vest.
“Sign of the incident was first reported when a suspected bomber was arrested with a round of bomb belt tied to his waist in Kura town,” the statement said.
He said upon interrogation, the arrested bomber confessed that two of them were sent from Mubi in Adamawa State to Sambisa and finally Gwammaja Quarters in Kano on a suicide mission to kill Shi’ites during the Arba’een trek.
“While manhunt for the second bomber on the loose was going on, the bomber detonated the bomb among the trekkers. Scores of brothers and sister, including children were killed. Among the dead was the bomber whose only remain was his chest and head,” the statement said.
There was no official confirmation of casualties and one of the organisers reportedly told a foreign news agency that the figure may likely be huge, “It’s a huge crowd so it’s too early to give a precise figure of casualties.”
Nonetheless, the statement from the organisers of the procession added that two leaders of the movement Muhammad Turi and Sayyed Mustapha, who arrived at the scene, ordered evacuation of the dead and injured to ease traffic congestion.
The statement added that the symbolic trek had since continued as normal. Witnesses had earlier told our reporter that 10 persons died and 27 others were injured.
Giving further insight on why members of the Shiite group undertook the symbolic trek, Mr. Usman said the procession is carried out annually to commemorate the 40th day of Ashura, as a mark of mourning the killing of Imam Husain, grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, by the army of Yazid, son of Mu’awiyyah in 61 AH.
He said the trekkers would finally converge at Hussainiyyah Baqiyyatullah in Zaria on December 3 for the grand Arba’een lecture by the leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky.
Meanwhile, the Kano State leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, Muhammad Turi, has ordered the continuation of the procession, saying that no amount of threat would deter them.
Meanwhile, the Nigerien authorities said that Boko Haram militants killed 18 people, including a local religious leader, in an attack on a village in the nation’s southern border area of Diffa.
Justice Minister, Marou Amadou, confirmed, “Boko Haram has once again sent us into mourning. Eighteen villagers were killed, including the Chief Imam of the village whose throat was slit by his own nephew,” he said.
Amadou said eleven people were injured and a three-year-old girl was abducted, adding that the army was pursuing the “terrorists in all nooks and crannies of Lake Chad”.
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