Explosion rocks Jonathan’s campaign venue in Gombe, five feared dead

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A BLAST ripped through a car park outside a stadium in northeastern city of Gombe where President Goodluck Jonathan had addressed a re-election campaign rally on Monday, minutes after he left, witnesses told AFP. Mohammed Bolari, who was at the rally in the northeastern city of Gombe, said the explosion happened at 3:10 pm (1410 GMT), just three minutes after Jonathan’s departure. A local reporter added: “The president had just passed the parking lot and we were trailing behind his convoy when the explosion happened… just 100 metres (yards) from the bus we were driving in.

His appearance in the city came just a day after two blasts in the city, including one that targeted a military checkpoint. At least five people were killed. There was no claim of responsibility for Sunday’s attacks but the city has been hit by suspected Boko Haram militants in the past and suspicion was likely to fall on the Islamist group. Bolari said of the latest blast: “It is difficult to say how many people were affected because of the confused struggle by the huge crowd leaving the venue to escape for fear of another blast.”