Two explosions ripped through the Nigerian city of Jos on Tuesday killing dozens of people in a busy market. The death toll, from what Agence France Presse reports were car bombs, is at least 46 people with another 45 seriously injured, according to Nigerian officials.
Details are still a bit sketchy about the nature of the explosions, but here’s what AFP has so far:
The first blast exploded from within a truck at roughly 3pm, with rescue teams rushing to the city’s New Abuja Market, the military said. The second bomb came from a minibus some 20 minutes later, and witnesses reported that many of the emergency workers were caught up in the second blast. “Scores died. Mostly women,” Pam Ayuba, spokesman for Plateau state’s Governor Jonah Jang, said. Mohammed Abdulsalam, a coordinator working for the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), said that “what we are doing now is (trying) to evacuate the dead bodies… many of them are burnt beyond recognition.” “The fire is still raging. Many shops are consumed by the inferno,” he said.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet, but Boko Haram have carried out a number of recent attacks, including the abduction of hundreds of school girls last month.
