FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

News

More Explosions in Nigeria End a Week That Has Left More Than 200 Dead

Three bombs blamed on Boko Haram went off in Nigeria yesterday killing 49 people. President Muhammadu Buhari has described last week's string of attacks as a “heinous atrocity."
Imagen por Adamu Adamu Damaturu/AP

Bombings in the central Nigerian city of Jos and the northeastern city of Potiskum killed 49 people and injured at least 67 on Sunday, marking the end of a week in which more than 200 people have died in the northeast of the country.

The explosions in Jos went off at a packed mosque and an elite Muslim restaurant, reported the Associated Press, while in Potiskum a suicide bomber targeted a Christian church.

Advertisement

No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks but the extremist Islamic group Boko Haram is thought to be behind them.

Potiskum, the commercial center of Yobe state, has been targeted by the militants at least four times so far this year, according to police. Jos has also long been a target for attacks, sitting on the line where Nigeria's mainly Christian south and mainly Muslim north meet.

Related: Deadly Female Suicide Bombings Hit Nigeria Days After Attack on Mosques Kills 97

The past week has seen suicide bombers and gunmen kill large numbers of people in a string of attacks on villages in the northeastern border state of Borno.

Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari has described the latest wave of violence as a "heinous atrocity," reported the BBC.

Boko Haram took control of a large area of northeastern Nigeria last year and declared a caliphate but a multinational African army has managed to capture most of the territory back.

According to Amnesty International, at least 17,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed during the six-year Islamists' insurgency. Around 1.5 million people are estimated to have been displaced.

Watch the VICE News documentary, The War Against Boko Haram here: