A double bomb attack that killed 31 people in a crowded market in the
central Nigerian city of Jos was likely to have been carried out
by
Boko Haram, the state government said on Friday.
“It’s an
extension of the terrorist acts that have been penetrating all states
and cities,” Pam Ayuba, spokesman for the Plateau state governor Jonah
Jang, told AFP by telephone.
The blasts happened at about 6:00 pm
(1700 GMT) on Thursday at a makeshift market near the Terminus bus
station, not far from the site of a previous attack in May that left at
least 118 dead.
Boko Haram’s leader Abubakar Shekau later claimed the attack.
Ayuba
said the Plateau state government had previously received intelligence
about the possibility of a new attack by the militants and ruled out any
political link to the violence.
Jos, which lies in the central
“Middle Belt” where Nigeria’s mostly Muslim north meets it mainly
Christian south, has been a flashpoint for years.
After the 2011 elections, widespread rioting left hundreds dead.
But
Ayuba said that political party primaries for next year’s general
elections had taken place in recent days and passed off “without any
rancour”.
“Everything was peaceful, so politics is overruled. It’s
a continuation of the wanton killing of the kind conducted by the
terrorists,” he added, referring to the Islamist group.
Governor Jang has warned people in the city to be on their guard and appealed for calm.
A
senior rescue official said on condition of anonymity because he was
not authorised to talk to the media that 14 people were being treated
for injuries at four separate hospitals in the city.
Source:PM News

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