A report last month by Amnesty worldwide says that Nigeria’s tactics against Boko Haram have also proven deadly to the country’s citizens as well.
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Jos has suffered heavily at the hands of the Islamist militants.
The explosion occurred at about 9:00am (0800 GMT), as primary school teachers and public sector workers were queueing for identity checks, according to witnesses. Earlier this year, Boko Haram became an affiliate of the Islamic State group which has proclaimed a caliphate in parts of Iraq and Syria under its control.
Witnesses in Zaria said workers had been queuing up seeking employment under Mr Buhari’s administration when the bomb detonated in Zaria’s Sabon Gari district.
The group has not yet commented on the latest attack. He said the vigilantes killed three militants. The terrorist group strategically attacked Jos, a city at the center of Nigeria where the north and south meet. “We have to respect our fallen soldiers, we have to pray for the repose of their souls but most importantly we have to make their families realize that they did not die in vain”, Shettima said.
Thirty-two wounded victims are being treated at the university teaching hospital, he said. The city has been targeted in the past by bomb blasts claimed by Boko Haram extremists that have killed hundreds of people.
Boko Haram has been known to target churches in Nigeria before, including spates of attacks on the places of worship in November 2011 and June 2013.
Some freed women said they are widows.
Boko Haram made major headlines in the Western world previous year when it kidnapped 276 schoolgirls in the city of Chibok. The recently elected president has pledged to defeat Boko Haram, but military efforts to stop the bloodshed have failed thus far.
USA condemnation of the attacks was contained in a statement by the Department of State spokesperson in Washington, DC, John Kirby.
Meanwhile, gunmen suspected of being cattle thieves killed at least 37 people in a village in northern Nigeria’s Zamfara state, a local government official said Monday. The police, military and government authorities have previously downplayed death tolls in the Boko Haram insurgency.
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CNN’s Christian Purefoy reported from Lagos.
