Bombs at mosque, restaurant in central Nigerian city kill 15

With the latest attacks, more than 500 people have been killed, according to AFP reporting.

“Police rushed to the Redeemed Christian Church of God in Potiskum, the largest city in northeastern Yobe state”, the Associated Press wrote.

A suicide bomber blew himself up in a church Sunday (July 5) in the Nigerian town of Potiskum, killing the priest and four other worshippers, witnesses and police told CNN.

Boko Haram has since been pushed back with the help of offensives launched by troops from Chad and Niger while Cameroon has fought them off along its borders.

Buhari said on Sunday that Boko Haram, which has allied itself to the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq, had “declared war on all that we value”.

No one has yet claimed responsibility for the attacks, but experts say they bear all the signs of Boko Haram.

“The framework – the machinery – has been set in motion for a final onslaught against Boko Haram, and it will happen”, Adesina said. “For years, the Christian population of north Nigeria has faced a devastating offensive by Islamic militants that has yet to be effectively countered”, said Cameron Thomas, global Christian Concern regional manager for Africa.

Boko Haram was blamed for a bombing at a shopping complex in the Nigerian capital Abuja in June, 2014.

The bombs killed at least 44 people and injured 67 at Yantaya Mosque and Shagalinku restaurant in Nigeria’s central city of Jos.

The witnesses said that they do not have any confirmation of how many people had lost their lives.

It said the president would do “everything possible to eradicate Boko Haram, terrorism and mindless extremism from Nigeria in the shortest possible time”.

His call Saturday came after a surge of deadly suicide bombings in Nigeria’s Borno state since the beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Nigerian and regional forces have joined together to push the jihadists out of most of that territory but the militants have a last stronghold in the Sambisa forest reserve and many have dispersed throughout the country.

Over the weekend, Adesina said Buhari was poised to defeat the insurgency but the government would be prepared to talk to Boko Haram.

Zaria was also where a French engineer managed to flee his captors in November 2013 after being held for nine months by the Boko Haram offshoot Ansaru.