Terror attacks kill 140 in 4 countries
- 48 Yemeni soldiers killed in IS-claimed attack in Aden
- 38 including 30 cops killed in twin blasts near Istanbul stadium
- 29 killed in suicide bomb attack at Mogadishu port
- 25 killed in bomb blast near a Cairo church during a service
- 17 hurt as 2 young girls blow themselves up at Nigeria market
Terrorists attacked sites in Turkey, Egypt, Yemen, Somalia and Nigeria on Saturday and yesterday, leaving a bloody toll on two continents and prompting new concerns about the spreading influence of jihadists.
Turkey observed a day of mourning yesterday after twin bombings killed 38 people near an Istanbul football stadium in attacks authorities said were the work of Kurdish militants.
A car bomb detonated Saturday night outside the home stadium of football giants Besiktas after a match against Bursaspor, and less than a minute later a suicide attacker blew himself up near a group of police at a nearby park.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who postponed foreign travel, declared the government would "fight terrorism to the end".
He and Prime Minister Binali Yildirim attended the funeral of five of the 30 police officers killed, while flags were ordered flown at half mast.
A Kurdish militant group yesterday claimed responsibility for twin attacks. The claim was made in a statement issued by the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK), seen as an splinter group of the better-known Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
"A revenge squad from TAK carried out simultaneous attacks outside Istanbul Vodafone Arena stadium and Macka park at around 2230 local time," according to a TAK statement published on its website.
In Egypt, a bomb blast tore through a church near Cairo's Coptic cathedral during a service yesterday, killing at least 25 people in the deadliest attack in recent memory on the country's Christian minority.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombing but Coptic Christians, who make up about 10 percent of Egypt's population, have been previously targeted in jihadist attacks.
At least 31 people were also wounded in the blast, the health ministry said, as the attack drew condemnation from political and religious leaders and led President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to declare three days of national mourning.
The bombing hit around 10:00 am at the Saint Peter and Saint Paul Church, which is adjacent to Saint Mark's Cathedral, the seat of the Coptic pope Tawadros II.
In Yemen, 48 soldiers were killed in a suicide bombing claimed by the Islamic State group in the southern port city of Aden, officials said yesterday in an updated casualty toll.
"We have 48 dead and 29 wounded," all soldiers, Abdel Nasser al-Wali, health department chief for Aden, told AFP, revising an earlier toll of 35 dead.
The bomber detonated his explosives belt as hundreds of troops had gathered to collect their monthly pay at a barracks in Al-Sawlaban near Aden's international airport.
IS claimed responsibility. "A martyr from the Islamic State detonated his explosives belt in Al-Sawlaban military camp in Aden during a gathering of the Yemeni army," the IS-affiliated Amaq news outlet said.
In Somalia, a suicide truck bomb hit the entrance of the country's biggest port yesterday, killing at least 29 people, police said, an attack claimed by Islamist al Shabaab militants.
The fighters said they were trying to disrupt protracted parliamentary elections - part of efforts to rebuild the fractured nation after decades of war. The three-month vote is due to end on Dec 29.
Gunfire rang out after the blast at Mogadishu Port, Mohamed Hussein, a worker there, told Reuters. Two others said work had been halted and staff sent home.
The bodies of victims lay strewn outside the capital's terminal in a street filled with rubble from damaged tea shops.
"At least 29 civilians died and 50 others have been injured in the blast. We believe it was a suicide truck bomb," police officer Colonel Abdikadir Farah told Reuters.
SUICIDE ATTACK AT NIGERIA MARKET
Two girls approximately seven or eight years old blew themselves up in a northeastern Nigerian market yesterday, killing themselves and wounding at least 17 others, witnesses said.
The girls were "seven or eight", a local militia member in Maiduguri, Abdulkarim Jabo, told AFP.
Emergency services on-site in the town, the epicentre of the Boko Haram jihadist insurgency, said 17 people sustained injuries.
Maiduguri militia-man Jabo said he saw the girls yesterday immediately before the explosion. "They got out of a rickshaw and walked right in front of me without showing the slightest sign of emotion," he said.
"I tried to speak with one of them, in Hausa and in English, but she didn't answer. I thought they were looking for their mother," he added.
"She headed toward the poultry sellers, and then detonated her explosives belt."
The attack was not immediately claimed by Boko Haram but bore all the hallmarks of the jihadists, who have regularly used women and young girls to carry out suicide attacks in their seven-year insurgent campaign in the troubled region.
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