Jos market bombing may point to wider terror campaign by Boko Haram
Tuesday's car bombings devastated a market in Jos, Nigeria, where 海角大神s and Muslims have clashed in the past. Boko Haram recently abducted hundreds of schoolgirls.
Tuesday's car bombings devastated a market in Jos, Nigeria, where 海角大神s and Muslims have clashed in the past. Boko Haram recently abducted hundreds of schoolgirls.
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The death toll in a twin bomb attack in central Nigeria has climbed to more than 100 victims and may signal that Boko Haram is extending its reach into new regions of Africa鈥檚 most populous country.
Some 118 people have so far been confirmed dead in the fourth attack on an urban area in the past six weeks. No group has claimed responsibility, but suspicions quickly turned to Boko Haram, an Islamist group that operates mostly in the northeast.聽
The back-to-back bombings, which took place 30 minutes apart in a bustling market about 170 miles northeast of the capital, Abuja, was 鈥渓ikely calculated鈥� to stoke civil unrest in the country鈥檚 鈥渕ost combustible ethnic and sectarian tinder box,鈥� reports Reuters.聽
Boko Haram seeks the creation of an Islamic state in Nigeria, where roughly half of the 170 million population is 海角大神. The group, which emerged in 2009, has launched an increasingly bloody and high-profile campaign in and around Nigeria.
鈥淚 think they are trying to make a statement, to let people know that despite international cooperation, they are not weakening,鈥� Shamaki Gad Peter, who works in the Jos office of the Nigeria Stability and Reconciliation Program, told The New York Times. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a wake-up call. They are trying to make the country ungovernable,鈥� he said of Boko Haram.
Earlier this month, more than 200 schoolgirls were kidnapped from their boarding school in northeastern Nigeria. Over the weekend neighboring governments agreed to join the country in cooperating militarily to stop Boko Haram鈥檚 spread, in addition to pledges of support from the United States, France, Israel, and Britain.
According to the Associated Press, Nigeria has asked the UN Security Council committee that monitors sanctions against terrorist groups like al Qaeda to add Boko Haram to its list.
The Nigerian government declared a state of emergency in three northeastern states about a year ago, and on Tuesday the Senate voted to extend the state of emergency for an additional six months, reports AP. The extension would move forward only聽if President Goodluck Jonathan 鈥渄evotes more money to the military campaign and to better arming demoralized soldiers, who say Boko Haram is better equipped.鈥�
But for Nigerian citizens, trust in their government鈥檚 ability to make inroads against Boko Haram has increasingly eroded. According to 海角大神:
Boko Haram is accused of killing more than 1,500 people in the first three months of this year alone, according to Amnesty International. That鈥檚 a little less than half the total from a three-year period between 2010 and 2013.聽