Kano (Nigeria) (AFP) - Two female
suicide bombers killed at least four people at a busy market in
northern Nigeria's largest city Kano on Wednesday, less than two weeks
after a horrific attack at the city's central mosque.
Kano
state police commissioner Adenrele Shinaba said the blast at the Kantin
Kwari market in Kano city was "a twin suicide bombing carried out by
two young girls in hijab".
"They came by the market and asked to
be directed to a public convenience. The bombs detonated, killing them
and four others," he told AFP. At least seven others were injured, he
added.
The leader of the market traders union, Abdullahi Abubakar, said the blasts hit a parking area rather than the main market.
He
estimated that the attackers were in their late teens and said they
were accompanied by a man who disappeared after the girls blew
themselves up.
Blood stained the walls and
floors of affected buildings following the blasts. Angry youths
converged on the area and were kept at bay by police and soldiers, an
AFP correspondent said.
The bombers' remains were then taken away.
- Key city targeted -
Kano,
the key city in the mainly Muslim north, has been among the places
hardest hit by Boko Haram's five-year uprising aimed at creating a
caliphate in the region.
A November 29 attack on worshippers
attending Friday prayers at the central mosque killed at least 120
people and injured 270 others -- the second deadliest attack in the
ancient city. 
Boko Haram gunmen rampaged across Kano in January 2012, killing at least 185 people.
Last
month's mosque bombing apparently targeted the influential Emir of
Kano, Muhammad Sanusi II, who had previously called on citizens to take
up arms against Boko Haram.
Sanusi
was not at the mosque at the time of the attack but analysts said the
Islamists may have been trying to send him a message after several
previous assassination attempts against other Islamic leaders who spoke
out against extremism.
Kano
was attacked by female bombers four times in one week in July, while
several similar attacks have hit a series of northern cities in recent
weeks, including the Borno state capital Maiduguri, where Boko Haram was
founded more than a decade ago.
- Political week -
As
rescue workers sifted through the damage of the north's latest bombing,
political heavyweights were gathering in the capital Abuja and the
commercial hub of Lagos in the south for party conventions ahead of
February 14 polls.
President Goodluck Jonathan is expected to be nominated without contest by the ruling People's Democratic Party in Abuja.
While
he is all but certain to be on the ballot, some believe the
deteriorating security crisis in the north could complicate his
re-election prospects.
Northerners
hit by Boko Haram violence have voiced increasing frustration with
Jonathan's failure to stem the bloodshed and questioned the military's
competence in responding to the insurgency.
In Lagos, the opposition All Progressives Congress was set to nominate a northern Muslim to challenge Jonathan.
Former military dictator Muhammadu Buhari and ex-vice-president Atiku Abubakar were seen as frontrunners for the nomination.
Please where are Chibok girls? Where is Nigeria heading towards?
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