LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — A bomb blast in Nigeria's northern university
town of Zaria killed 25 people Tuesday including a 2-year-old toddler,
the Kaduna state governor reported, the latest in a string of deadly
bombing and shooting attacks by the Boko Haram Islamic extremist group.
Gov.
Nasir el-Rufai urged citizens to avoid crowded public places including
mosques and churches as the militants widen and accelerate the pace of
attacks that have killed some 300 people in a week. Boko Haram may be
responding to an Islamic State group order to commit more mayhem during
the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
The blast targeted government
headquarters in the historic Muslim town as civil servants assembled to
welcome a new chairman, El-Rufai said in an email to The Associated
Press.
"Terrorists detonated explosives that killed and injured several
persons ... (with) 25 fatalities including a 2-year-old," el-Rufai said.
Thirty-two wounded victims are being treated at the university teaching hospital, he said.
Boko
Haram wants to install an Islamic state across the West African nation
of about 170 million people divided between a predominantly Muslim north
and Christian south. The extremists say democracy has brought nothing
but woes to Nigerians plagued by endemic corruption that keeps Africa's
biggest oil producer and richest economy mired in poverty.
Nigeria's
police force Monday night announced increased security around mosques
and churches after Boko Haram assaults on Sunday killed more than 60
people in a mosque and posh Muslim restaurant in central Jos city and at
an evangelical Christian church in northeastern Potiskum town.
The
attacks come just five weeks into the administration of President
Muhammadu Buhari, a Muslim and former military dictator who has vowed to
crush the 6-year-old insurgency that has killed more than 13,000 people
and driven 1.5 million from their homes.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/07/07/boko-haram-nigeria-bombing-zaria_n_7742852.html
No comments:
Post a Comment