20 killed in Zaria, Nigeria bomb attack: state governor

The children were swept up in raids by the army on Koranic schools but had not been charged with any offense, said Amnesty worldwide. He said his government was working towards nabbing terrorists.

Plateau state governor Simon Lalong has called on Mr Buhari to reverse his decision, saying checkpoints made it more hard for militants to move around.

Minimah thanked the governmentt of Borno State for its continued support to the Nigeria Army.

“We call on our citizens to be vigilant and avoid crowded places like markets, mosques, churches and motor parks in the next few weeks”, El-Rufai said on Twitter. The terror group, based in northern Nigeria, had just carried out attacks on northeastern Nigerian villages that claimed the lives of over 150 people – mostly Muslims. Authorities suspect that the attacks were premeditated by Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility but Sunday night’s attacks bore the hallmarks of Boko Haram insurgents.

“At the moment we have 44 dead bodies and 47 others injured from the scenes of the two attacks”, said Mohammed Abdulsalam, from the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA). The girl died; no one else was hurt, police said.

Boko Haram wants to install an Islamic state across the West African nation of about 170 million people divided between a predominantly Muslim north and Christian south. The extremists say democracy has brought nothing but woes to Nigerians plagued by endemic corruption that keeps Africa’s biggest oil producer and richest economy mired in poverty.

Regional forces have been battling Boko Haram in north-eastern Nigeria, and have recaptured all major cities and towns from the group. The recently elected president has pledged to defeat Boko Haram, but military efforts to stop the bloodshed have failed thus far.

Boko Haram took over large swathes of territory past year but have since been repelled from most parts by Nigerian forces with the help of Chad, Niger and Cameroon.

Men, who were being detained on suspicion of affiliation with Boko Haram, line up as they are released by the Nigerian military in Maiduguri, Nigeria, Monday, July 6, 2015.