In the Yantaya mosque, witnesses said the bomb exploded while the preacher was calling for peaceful coexistence between religions during the holy month of Ramadan.
Advertisement
Shares of the Global X MSCI Nigeria ETF (NGE) are down almost 2% after a Boko Haram terror attack resulted in more than scores dead. The sheikh, one of the most influential clerics in Nigeria, who survived the attack, is known for his opposition to Boko Haram and has written a book which criticizes the group. Around 1.5 million people are estimated to have been displaced.
Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday condemned the latest attacks as barbaric and said they underline the need for an expanded multinational army to crush the extremists.
“They killed dozens of people and burned houses after attacking worshipers”, said survivor Mallam Yahi to The Associated Press last week.
According to Abdussalam Mohammad, an official of the National Emergency Management Agency, 67 other people had also been wounded in the attacks and are been treated in the hospitals.
It said despite guerrilla tactics of using vulnerable girls and young men for suicide attacks on soft targets, we ensure that their fighters do not escape as they continue to meet their Waterloos in the hand of the troops.
Gunmen opened fire on the mosque from three directions, said Garba, the lawyer. Yahaya was unharmed, Sani added.
The second attack took place at the Shagalinku restaurant, which the AP says is frequented by state politicians and elite figures.
Sabi’u Bako bought a takeaway and then heard a massive blast as he walked away with friends. “The restaurant was destroyed and we saw many people covered in blood”, he said.
The attacks have been tied to the terrorist group Boko Haram, who had also been connected to a string of terrorist attacks throughout Nigeria in which as many as 300 people were killed earlier in the week.
Over the weekend, a suicide bomber killed at least six people in a Redeemed church in Potiskum, Yobe State.
Human rights group Amnesty worldwide has estimated that since 2009 at least 170,000 people, mainly civilians, have been killed by Boko Haram militants.
Advertisement
Up to 118 killed in an attack on the village of Kukawa, 185 kilometres from Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state.
