The 2014 Kano bombing was a terrorist attack on November 28, 2014, at the Central Mosque (Grand Mosque) in Kano, the biggest city in the mainly Muslim

Northern Nigeria Northern Nigeria was an autonomous division within Nigeria, distinctly different from the southern part of the country, with independent customs, foreign relations and security structures. In 1962 it acquired the territory of the United Kingd ...

during the Islamist insurgency in Nigeria. The mosque is next to the palace of the

Emir of Kano Emir (; ar, أمير ' ), sometimes transliterated amir, amier, or ameer, is a word of Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person possessing actual or ceremo ...

, Muhammad Sanusi II, Nigeria's second most senior Muslim cleric, who had urged the civilians to protect themselves by arming up against

Boko Haram Boko Haram, officially known as ''Jamā'at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da'wah wa'l-Jihād'' ( ar, جماعة أهل السنة للدعوة والجهاد, lit=Group of the People of Sunnah for Dawah and Jihad), is an Islamic terrorist organization ...

. Two suicide bombers blew themselves up and gunmen opened fire on those who were trying to escape. Around 120 people were killed and another 260 injured.

Background

On 25 November, two female suicide bombers killed over 45 people in a crowded market in

Maiduguri Maiduguri is the capital and the largest city of Borno State Borno State is a state in the North-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria, bordered by Yobe to the west, Gombe to the southwest, and Adamawa to the south while its eastern border form ...

Borno State Borno State is a state in the North-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria, bordered by Yobe to the west, Gombe to the southwest, and Adamawa to the south while its eastern border forms part of the national border with Cameroon, its northern border ...

. On 27 November, around 50 people were killed in

Damasak Damasak is the head town of the Mobbar Local Government Area, in the northeastern Nigerian state of Borno. It is located near the confluence of the Yobe River and Komadugu Gana River,Mortimore, MichaelAdapting to Drought: Farmers, Famines, an ...

by the Boko Haram militants. A bomb attack was also foiled near a mosque in Maiduguri hours before the Kano bombings. A roadside bomb, suspected to be remote-controlled, was defused.

Bombings

The attack occurred on 28 November 2014 when the Friday prayer was under way. Three bombs were detonated when the prayers had just started. According to an eyewitness, two blasts were in the courtyard, while the third was on a nearby road. Another eyewitness said, "The imam was about to start prayer when he saw somebody in a car trying to force himself into the mosque. But when people stopped him, he detonated the explosions. People started running helter-skelter." Following the explosions, gunmen opened fire at people. According to national police spokesman Emmanuel Ojukwu, the angry mob killed four gunmen after the shootings.

Aftermath

Nigerian President

Goodluck Jonathan Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan (born 20 November 1957)Lawson Heyford, ''The Source'' (Lagos), 11 December 2006. is a Nigerian politician who served as the President of Nigeria from 2010 to 2015. He lost the 2015 presidential election to fo ...

condemned the attacks and ordered the national security services "to launch a full-scale investigation and to leave no stone unturned until all agents of terror undermining the right of every citizen to life and dignity are tracked down and brought to justice". In December 2014, the leader of the Nigerian Islamist group

Abubakar Shekau Abu Mohammed Abubakar al-Sheikawi (also known by the alias ''Darul Akeem wa Zamunda Tawheed'', or ''Darul Tawheed''; "the abode of monotheism"; born 1965, 1969 or 1975 – 19 May 2021) was a Kanuri man known as the leader of Boko Haram, a Nigeri ...

, accused the emir of Kano,

Sanusi Lamido Sanusi Sanusi Lamido Sanusi (Ajami: سنوسي لاميط سنوسي, ''Muhammadu Sanusi na biyu''; born 31 July 1961), known by the religious title Khalifa Sanusi II (Ajami: خليفة السنوسي), is a spiritual leader in the Tijanniyah Sufi ord ...

, of deviating from Islam and threatened to kill him.National Post: "Boko Haram kidnaps 191, murders dozens as the group threatens Muslim leader for telling Nigerians to fight back" by Mustapha Muhammad
December 18, 2014 According to reports, upon a request for help from Nigeria, Britain was considering sending military trainers to aid the Nigerian military in resisting the Boko Haram terrorist attacks.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kano bombing 2014 murders in Nigeria Crime in Kano Mass murder in 2014 Boko Haram bombings Massacres perpetrated by Boko Haram Improvised explosive device bombings in Nigeria Spree shootings in Nigeria Massacres in religious buildings and structures Islamist attacks on mosques Terrorist incidents in Nigeria in 2014 November 2014 events in Nigeria

Background

Bombings

Aftermath

See also

References