Blast after Nigeria presidential rally

 

Al Jazera.com - A car bomb went off near a stadium in the northeastern Nigerian city of Gombe, a few minutes after President Goodluck Jonathan gave a speech at a party rally there.

A Reuters news agency photographer said the bomb exploded about 200 metres from the stadium on Monday, engulfing the car in flames and killing at least one bystander and wounding eighteen.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, although suspicion is likely to fall on Boko Haram, which has attacked Gombe several times.

Two female suicide bombers were suspected of being behind the blast, rescue workers and health officials said.

"We have evacuated two bodies of females we believe were suicide bombers behind the blast," said a rescue worker, a comment backed by a medical source at Gombe State Specialist Hospital.

Eighteen people were injured in the blast and receiving treatment in hospital, they added.

On Sunday, another suicide bomber blew himself up outside the house of a legislator in the northeast Nigerian town of Potiskum, killing 10 people, two security sources told Reuters. No one immediately took responsibility for the attack.

'Refrain from violence'

The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has urged all parties in Nigeria's elections later this month to refrain from violence before, during and after the vote.

In a written statement, Fatou Bensouda said on Monday she would send a team to Nigeria before the February 14 election to "further engage with the authorities and encourage the prevention of crimes."

Prosecutors at the Hague-based court already are conducting a preliminary probe into alleged war crimes committed by Boko Haram and by Nigerian security forces that could lead to a full-blown investigation.

The ICC has been looking into possible war crimes in Nigeria since 2010, but few believe it would be keen to take on another powerful politician after being forced to drop charges related to 2007 electoral violence against Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta in December.

Jonathan faces challenger Muhammadu Buhari, a northern Muslim, in an atmosphere of heightened regional, ethnic and sectarian tensions that many fear could to boil over into widespread violence.

Source: Agencies