Blasts kill 82 in northern Nigeria
Two bomb blasts in the north Nigerian city of Kaduna killed at least 82 people yesterday, officials said, in attacks that bore the hallmarks of violent Islamist group Boko Haram.
A suicide bomber targeting a moderate Muslim cleric killed at least 32 of the cleric's congregation on a busy commercial road. Shortly after, a second bomb blast killed 50 people in the crowded Kawo market, a local Red Cross worker on the scene, who declined to be named, told Reuters.
Thousands were gathered for prayers with Sheikh Dahiru Bauchi in Murtala Muhammed square, and when his convoy pulled up, the bomber lunged at him before being stopped by his private security, witnesses and police said. Bauchi escaped the blast.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for either blast, but Boko Haram has been staging attacks, especially with explosives, outside its northeastern heartlands in the past three months.
Comments