Nigeria attacks: Scores killed as church, mosques hit

Story highlights The death toll from attacks in the city of Jos rises to 44, authorities say A teenagesuicide bomber dies after her explosive belt detonates in KanoA priest is reported to be among fivepeople killed in church attack in northeastern townThe heaviest death toll was in Jos, in centralNigeria, where two deadly explosions struck late Sunday not far from each other.

One blast ripped through a restaurant in a shopping complex in an area popular with travelers andwhere many Muslim families live. The restaurant was full of customers when the explosion went off,witnesses and survivors said.

The other attack took place at a crowded mosque as a sermon for the holy month of Ramadan wasbeing delivered. Unidentified attackers opened fire outside with guns before launching a rocket-propelled grenade at the mosque, witnesses said.

Ado Aliyu, a survivor who was shot in the arm, told CNN that about five gunmen entered the crowdand started shooting, setting off a stampede before the explosion struck.

At least 44 people were killed and 47 others wounded in the shooting and explosions, MohammedAbdussalam, an official at Nigeria's National Emergency Management Agency, said Monday.

No group claimed responsibility for the attacks. But Boko Haram has been tied to violence in Jos inthe past, including an attack on a market in May 2014 that killed more than 100 people.

The city sits between the predominantly Christian and animist southern half of Nigeria and thenorth, where the majority of the country's Muslims live.

Church attack kills priest, childrenIn the northeasterntown of Potiskum, meanwhile, a suicide bomber blewhimself up in a church on Sunday, killing the priest andfour other worshipers, witnesses and police told CNN.

A woman and her two children were among the victims ofthe attack at the Redeemed Christian Church of God, thesources said.

Though no one has claimed responsibility for the churchattack, the method, target and location are consistent withpast attacks thought to have been perpetrated by BokoHaram.

Potiskum, the commercial hub of Yobe state, has been the site of multiple deadly attacks for whichauthorities blamed the Islamist group. The militants have carried at least four previous suicideattacks in the town so far this year, resulting in the deaths of more than 20 people.

Boko Haram has been known to target churches in nigeria before, including spates of attacks on theplaces of worship in November 2011 and June 2013.

On Monday, a 13-year old female suicide bomber was killed when her belt of explosives detonatednear a mosque in the northern Nigerian city of Kano, police said. Nobody else was hurt in theexplosion, they said.

More than 150 killed last weekThe violence on Sunday and Monday followed a bloody week of BokoHaram attacks on villages in northeastern Nigeria that left well over 150 people dead.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday called the earlier attacks "inhuman and barbaric"and pledged that every last "Boko Haram bandit ... would be hunted down without mercy andcompromise."

Elected earlier this year, Buhari vowed to focus on the fight against the terrorist group, which haspledged allegiance to ISIS. But so far, he has struggled to stop the heavy bloodshed in the northeast.

The United States on Sunday condemned recent attacks by Boko Haram.

"As we have said before, the people of northern Nigeria deserve to live free from violence and fromterror," U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby said in a statement. "The United Statescontinues to provide counterterrorism assistance to help nigerian authorities develop acomprehensive approach to combat the threat posed by Boko Haram."

Journalist Hassan John reported from Jos, and journalist Aminu Abubakr reported from Kano,Nigeria. CNN's Jethro Mullen in Hong Kong wrote this report.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/06/africa/nigeria-violence/