File Photo: Members of the terror group Boko Haram. (Agence France-Presse)
Jos, Nigeria:
At least 18 people were killed in twin bomb blasts in the central Nigerian city of Jos, police said today, after a bloody week of violence blamed on Boko Haram militants.
"We have 18 dead as of last night (Sunday)," Plateau state police spokesman Emmanuel Abuh told AFP, adding many more people were injured and that the death toll could rise.
"We are trying to move from one hospital to another to determine how many have died," he said.
The first explosion went off at about 9:14 pm (2014 GMT) at a shopping complex near a bus station and the University of Jos. A second detonated about four minutes later near a popular mosque.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks but Jos, the religiously divided capital of Plateau state, has been targeted before by Boko Haram militants.
Plateau, which falls on the dividing line between Nigeria's mainly Christian south and mostly Muslim north, has also seen waves of sectarian violence that has killed thousands over the last decade.
Boko Haram has stepped up its attacks in northern Nigeria since the inauguration of President Muhammadu Buhari on May 29, with a wave of raids, explosions and suicide bombings.
With the latest attacks, nearly 500 people have been killed, according to AFP reporting.
On Sunday, a suicide bomber blew himself up inside a church in the city of Potiskum, in Yobe state, northeast Nigeria, killing five worshippers.
Last week, Islamist militants fighters raided a number of villages around the Lake Chad area, killing more than 150 worshippers as they prayed in mosques.
"We have 18 dead as of last night (Sunday)," Plateau state police spokesman Emmanuel Abuh told AFP, adding many more people were injured and that the death toll could rise.
"We are trying to move from one hospital to another to determine how many have died," he said.
The first explosion went off at about 9:14 pm (2014 GMT) at a shopping complex near a bus station and the University of Jos. A second detonated about four minutes later near a popular mosque.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks but Jos, the religiously divided capital of Plateau state, has been targeted before by Boko Haram militants.
Plateau, which falls on the dividing line between Nigeria's mainly Christian south and mostly Muslim north, has also seen waves of sectarian violence that has killed thousands over the last decade.
Boko Haram has stepped up its attacks in northern Nigeria since the inauguration of President Muhammadu Buhari on May 29, with a wave of raids, explosions and suicide bombings.
With the latest attacks, nearly 500 people have been killed, according to AFP reporting.
On Sunday, a suicide bomber blew himself up inside a church in the city of Potiskum, in Yobe state, northeast Nigeria, killing five worshippers.
Last week, Islamist militants fighters raided a number of villages around the Lake Chad area, killing more than 150 worshippers as they prayed in mosques.
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