Two Boko Haram attacks in Nigeria kill 30
Smoke rises after a bomb blast at a bus terminal in Jos, Nigeria. Photo: APAt least 30 people have reportedly been killed in a Boko Haram attack on the village of Alagarno in Nigeria\’s Borno state, a day after twin bomb blasts rocked the central Nigerian city of Jos, killing 118 people.
Witnesses in Alagarno says gunmen stormed their village overnight Tuesday and killed at least 17 people. They say the attackers also stole food and set homes on fire.
Residents in nearby Shawa say gunmen killed at least 10 people during a Monday attack.
The attack came hours after twin car bombs exploded at a crowded bus terminal and market in Nigeria\’s central city of Jos, killing at least 118 people.
"It was a sudden attack," said Alagarno resident Haruna Bitrus, in an account supported by other locals. "They began shooting and set fire to our homes. We had to flee to the bush," he added.
Meanwhile in Jos, rescue workers continued to comb through the rubble of the twin explosions.
Mohammed Abdulsalam, a coordinator with the National Emergency Management Agency, said fires raged in buildings after the blasts and he expected more bodies to be found.
"We\’ve now recovered 118 bodies from the rubble," he said. "This could rise by morning, as there is still some rubble we haven\’t yet shifted."
Officials said that the bombs were concealed in a truck and a minibus. The second blast killed some of the rescue workers who rushed to the scene, which was obscured by billows of black smoke.
"It\’s horrifying, terrible," said Mark Lipdo of the Stefanos Foundation, a Christian charity based in Jos, who described the smell of burning human flesh.
No one has claimed responsibility. But suspicion immediately fell on Boko Haram – the Islamist extremist group blamed for thousands of deaths over the past five years.
Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan called Tuesday\’s bombings in Jos "cruel and evil," and said he is fully committed to winning the war on terrorism.
On Tuesday, Nigerian lawmakers voted to extend a state of emergency for six months in the northeast, where Boko Haram is most active.
President Jonathan declared the state of emergency last year and sent thousands of troops to combat the militant group. However, large-scale attacks on schools, markets, military bases and other targets have continued.
Boko Haram kidnapped more than 300 girls from a school in Chibok in mid-April. Two hundred seventy six of those girls remain missing.
The group has stepped up its use of explosives in attacks that are spreading far beyond its core area of operation, including two in Abuja last month.
A suicide car bomber also killed five people on a street of bars and restaurants in the northern city of Kano on Sunday evening, in an area mostly inhabited by southern Christians.
Boko Haram, who claimed responsibility for the schoolgirls’ abduction in Chibok, has been trying to overthrow the government of Nigeria and establish an Islamic state. Thousands have been killed in the armed group’s five year uprising.
Source: Agencies
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