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Bombs kill 81 in Nigeria’s Kano
Gunmen set off three bombs and opened fire on worshippers at the main mosque in north Nigeria’s biggest city Kano on Friday, killing at least 81 people, witnesses and officials said, in an attack that bore the hallmarks of Islamist Boko Haram militants.
Blasts from the coordinated assault rang out as scores of people packed into the ancient building’s courtyard for afternoon prayers.
The mosque is next to the palace of the emir of Kano, the second highest Islamic authority in Africa’s most populous country and a vocal critic of Boko Haram.
It has attacked mosques that do not follow its radical ideology in a bloody near six-year campaign that has also targeted churches, schools, police stations, military bases and government buildings.
After the attacks, angry youths blocked the mosque’s gates to police, who had to force their way in with tear gas.
President Goodluck Jonathan said in statement that he would “not to leave any stone unturned until all agents of terror undermining the right of every citizen to life and dignity are tracked down and brought to justice.”
Islamic leaders sometimes shy away from direct criticism of Boko Haram for fear of reprisals, but Kano’s emir Sanusi, angered by atrocities such as the kidnapping of 200 schoolgirls from the village of Chibok in April, has become an increasingly vocal Boko Haram critic.
He was quoted in the local press as calling on Nigerians this month to defend themselves against Boko Haram. During a broadcast recitation of the Koran he was reported to have said:
“These people, when they attack towns, they kill boys and enslave girls. People must stand resolute … They should acquire what they can to defend themselves. People must not wait for soldiers to protect them.”
The insurgency has forced more than one million people to flee during its campaign focused on Nigeria’s northeast.
