Suicide bombers attack Airtel office in Nigeria

ABUJA/NEW DELHI: Two suicide car bombers on Saturday attacked the offices of mobile phone companies Bharti Airtel and MTN in Kano, Nigeria. No casualty has been reported.

“The one who hit the Airtel office was shot by military men before the bomb exploded ... at the MTN office the car rammed into the fence but no civilians were killed,” Reuters quoted the police chief of Kano. Both the bombers were killed by security personnel.

Bharti Airtel is India’s largest and the world’s fifth-largest telecom company while MTN is South Africa’s largest telecom firm. Bharti Airtel did not give any comment. People close to the matter said the offices were switching centres where equipment is housed to route calls.

Executives said they were not sure of the reason behind the selected attacks.

Reuters said Islamist sect Boko Haram, which wants to impose strict Islamic law in the country, had previously eradicated telephone masts and offices of mobile phone companies as they help security agencies to catch its members.

Nigeria’s population of 160 million is split between Christians and Muslims. The group is known to have targeted churches due to which security had been increased in all major cities in the country.