Oil rich Nigeria descending into chaos ? More than 100 ( maybe 200 + ) killed in Nigeria twin blasts Car bomb explosions in crowded business district in city of Jos kills at least 118 people, officials say.

Al Jazeera....... Dozens killed in attacks on Nigerian villages Suspected Boko Haram fighters kill 48 people near town where 276 schoolgirls were abducted last month. Last updated: 22 May 2014 02:16       Al Jazeera's Mohammed Adow reports from Jos, where twin blasts struck a bus terminal and market on Tuesday Suspected Boko Haram fighters have killed 48 villagers in northeastern Nigeria near the town where the group kidnapped more than 270 schoolgirls. The three villages attacked overnight Tuesday and early Wednesday are near the town of Chibok, where the girls were abducted from their boarding school in a brazen April 15 assault that has ignited a global movement to secure their freedom. The attacks came hours after twin car bombs exploded at a crowded bus terminal and market in Nigeria's central city of Jos, killing at least 122 people. Gunmen stormed the village of Alagarno late on Tuesday and stole food, razed homes and fired on fleeing civilians. "It was a sudden attack," said Alagarno resident Haruna Bitrus, in an account supported by other locals. "They began shooting and set fire to our homes. We had to flee to the bush," he added. Many of those who fled Alagarno ran to Chibok, where the armed group Boko Haram kidnapped 276 schoolgirls on April 14. RELATED: Life for schoolgirls in the north The nearby villages of Bulakurbe and Shawa were also attacked. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for either assault, but Boko Haram has either claimed or been blamed for scores of similar attacks in that part of Borno state, near the hilly border with Cameroon. Children killed Meanwhile in Jos, rescue workers with body bags combed the rubble for more bodies as scores of residents gathered at mortuaries and hospitals in the search for missing loved ones. Most victims were women and children who worked in the market as vendors, said Mohammed Abdulsalam of the National Emergency Management Agency. "We expect to find more bodies in the rubble," he said. Officials said that the bombs were concealed in a truck and a minibus. The second blast killed some of the rescue workers who rushed to the scene, which was obscured by billows of black smoke. The Nigerian government has been heavily criticised for failing to find the hundreds of girls who were taken from their school. President Barack Obama said on Wednesday that the US had deployed 80 military personnel to neighbouring Chad to help in the search for the girls. He said the service members will help with intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft for missions over northern Nigeria. He said the force would stay in Chad until its support is no longer necessary. Boko Haram has stepped up its use of explosives in attacks that are spreading far beyond its core area of operation, including two in Abuja last month. Boko Haram, which claimed responsibility for the schoolgirls’ abduction in Chibok, has been trying to overthrow the government of Nigeria and establish an Islamic state. Thousands have been killed in the armed group’s five-year uprising. The Advocate.....  May 20, 2014     Posted By The Advocate     Breaking News, News, Top News  0  101 About 200 killed as explosions rock Jos About 200 people were killed by multiple explosions at Jos Main Market, between Railway Terminus and the temporary site of the Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH) Tuesday afternoon, according to the reports. The reports quoting eyewitnesses said the first explosion sounded at about 2:55 PM while the second happened about 10 metres away at about 3:20 PM around the same area. According to CNN, there were three explosions. The first blast was a bomb detonated at the Terminus market, where food and clothes are sold. The second blast was at the same market and could have been a bomb or gas canister ignited by the first bomb. The third explosion was at Abuja market, which sells shoes, the journalists at the scene reported. Sahara Reporters also reported that over 200 people were killed, up from the official 72 dead released earlier by government sources, as the two apparent car bombings had exploded 32 minutes apart. The first exploded vehicle was a Peugeot J5 van (registration number XG 148 BLD) while the second blast was carried out with a Toyota van with a Gombe state license plate number. Smoke rising from the Terminus Market today in Jos after the explosion According to an eyewitness, the second car (Toyota Sienna van) had been abandoned since 6 AM Tuesday morning. And at least five residents had informed police officials about suspicious car, but, unfortunately, no police arrived at the scene, and nothing was done until the car exploded some hours afterwards after a beeping sound. It was gathered that victims of the explosion are being rushed to Ola hospital. Earlier, the Commander of the Special Task Force (STF) on Jos crisis, Major General Dave Enetie, confirmed the incident, but didn’t give exact number of victims. Sound of the explosion was heard in Bukuru, which is about 20km from Jos city. And......... Al Jazeera .... More than 100 killed in Nigeria twin blasts

Car bomb explosions in crowded business district in city of Jos kills at least 118 people, officials say. Last updated: 20 May 2014 22:07

President Goodluck Jonathan condemned the blasts, calling the perpetrators 'cruel and evil' [AP]

Twin car bombs that exploded at a crowded bus terminal and market in Nigeria's central city of Jos have killed at least 118 people, the country's emergency agency said. Coordinator Mohammed Abdulsalam of the National Emergency Management Agency said fires were raging in buildings after Tuesday's blasts and he expected more bodies to be found. "We've now recovered 118 bodies from the rubble," he said. "This could rise by morning, as there is still some rubble we haven't yet shifted." The bombs were concealed in a truck and a minibus. officials said. "Eyewitnesses recounted how twin blasts tore through a busy intersection in between the main market in Jos and a university teaching hospital as well as the main bus station of the town," Al Jazeera's Mohammed Adow, reporting from the capital, Abuja, said. "We are being told that there's been no immediate claim of responsibility. However, suspicion will most likely fall on the group, Boko Haram," Adow said. 'Cruel and evil' President Goodluck Jonathan condemned the blasts, calling the perpetrators "cruel and evil". "The government remains fully committed to winning the war against terror, and this administration will not be cowed by the atrocities of enemies of human progress and civilisation," he said in a statement issued by his office. Boko Haram grabbed world headlines with the abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls a month ago from a remote village in the northeast. Britain, the United States and France have pledged to help rescue them. Jos has been relatively free of attacks by the group, but it claimed responsibility for a bomb in a church in the highland city, as well as two other places, on Christmas Day in 2011. The city is in the heart of Nigeria's volatile "Middle Belt", where its largely Christian south and mostly Muslim north meet. The surrounding Plateau state is often a flashpoint for violence, although the Christmas bomb failed to trigger any. Tuesday's blasts occurred 15 minutes apart in the afternoon, burning several shops to the ground, shattering windows and spreading rubble in the road. Police sirens wailed as officers rushed to the scene. "There was a loud bang that shook my whole house. Then smoke was rising," said Jos resident Veronica Samson. "There were bodies in the streets and people rushing injured to hospital in their cars." Boko Haram has stepped up its use of explosives in attacks that are spreading far beyond its core area of operation, including two inAbuja last month. A suicide car bomber killed five people on a street of bars and restaurants in the northern city of Kano on Sunday evening, in an area mostly inhabited by southern Christians. And..... CBC News..... Nigeria car bombs kill 46 at bus terminal, market Explosions in Jos come amid bombing campaign by Boko Haram The Associated Press Posted: May 20, 2014 1:46 PM ET Last Updated: May 20, 2014 4:58 PM ET A suicide bomber struck in the northern Nigerian city of Kano on Sunday, on a street with popular bars and restaurants. (Reuters) Who are Boko Haram? 7:32 Facebook 3 Twitter 0 Reddit Share 3 Email Related Stories Nigeria: Oil riches can't hide a wealth of social ills Nigeria kidnapping 'unconscionable act,' Michelle Obama says Nigeria offered Canadian gear to help search for kidnapped girls Islamists attack Nigerian general's house, 1 soldier killed Suspected Islamists kill 90 in Nigeria village raid Extremist attacks on Nigerian church, village leave 99 dead Two car bombs exploded at a bustling bus terminal and market in Nigeria's central city of Jos on Tuesday, killing at least 46 people and wounding dozens, police said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the twin car bombs, but they bore the hallmarks of Boko Haram, an Islamic extremist group that is threatening to sell nearly 300 abducted schoolgirls into slavery. The second blast came half an hour after the first, killing some of the rescue workers who had rushed to the scene, which was obscured by billowing black smoke. Dozens of bodies and body parts were covered in grain that had been loaded in the second car bomb, witnesses said. A Terminus Market official said he helped remove 50 casualties, most of them dead. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not allowed to give information to reporters. "It's horrifying, terrible," said Mark Lipdo of the Stefanos Foundation, a Christian charity based in Jos, who could smell burning human flesh. At least 46 people were killed, according to Superintendent Felicia Anslem Ali, police spokeswoman for Plateau state. Photographs showed a woman's body, legs blown off, on the edge of an inferno consuming other bodies, with a hand reaching out of the flames. Another woman, unconscious, was being carried away in a wheelbarrow on a road strewn with glass shards. Boko Haram vows Nigerian schoolgirls will be held until militants freed The girls were seized more than a month ago from a remote town in the northeast that is the traditional stronghold of the Islamic extremists who want to turn Nigeria into an Islamic state under Shariah law. Half of Nigeria's population of 170 million is Christian. But they have increased the reach of their attacks this year, and their deadliness. Two separate bomb blasts in April killed more than 120 people and wounded more than 200 in Abuja, the capital in the centre of the country. A suicide car bomber killed 25 people in northern Kano city on Monday. Police there detonated a second car bomb Monday. They said both would have killed many people but the first exploded before it reached its target of restaurants and bars in the Christian quarter of the Muslim city. On Christmas Eve in 2010, bombs allegedly planted by Boko Haram exploded in Jos, killing as many as 80 people. The city known for its gentle climate amid the tropics is in Nigeria's middle belt region in Plateau state, which divides the country into the predominantly Muslim north and Christian south. More than 300 killed in recent weeks More than 300 people have been killed in assaults on towns and villages in recent weeks, and the extremists also are blamed for an attack on a Chinese camp in neighbouring Cameroon in which one Cameroonian soldier was killed and 10 Chinese workers abducted. The official News Agency of Nigeria quoted Maj. Gen. Dave Enebe confirming the two explosions Tuesday in Jos, but saying it was too early to give casualty figures. Islamists attack Nigerian general's house, 1 soldier killed Suspected Islamists kill 90 in Nigeria village raid Extremist attacks on Nigerian church, village leave 99 dead Militants' attacks have been coming with increasing frequency despite a year-old military state of emergency to curtail the uprising. The senate on Tuesday voted to extend the emergency for another six months but only if President Goodluck Jonathan devotes more money to the military campaign and to conditions and arming of demoralized soldiers who say Boko Haram is better armed. National and then international outrage has erupted over the mass abduction of the girls and the military's failure to rescue them, forcing Jonathan to accept help from several nations including Britain and the United States in the hunt for the girls. It also has brought massive attention to the shadowy extremist group, which is demanding the release of detained insurgents in exchange for the girls — a swap officials say the government will not consider. Diplomats said Nigeria on Tuesday asked the UN Security Council committee monitoring sanctions against al-Qaeda to add Boko Haram to the list, with an arms embargo and asset freeze. More than 2,000 people have been killed in the insurgency this year, compared with an estimated 3,600 between 2010 and 2013.