Suicide bombings in Jos and Biu kill 35 people

At least 35 people ‎were killed on Thursday in two attacks in the northeast Nigerian town of Biu and central Nigerian city of Jos, according to residents and the military.

In the first attack, a suicide bomber detonated his explosives at Tashar Gandu bus station on the outskirts of the town of Biu in northeast Nigerian Borno state, killing 18 people and injuring six others.

A second bomber was mobbed and killed before he could detonate his explosives at the scene of the carnage, residents and local vigilantes said.

"We have received 18 dead bodies ‎from the scene of the suicide explosion along with six injured victims," said a nurse at the Biu General Hospital who asked not to be named to protect her safety.

"The two men came to the bus station‎ around 2:55 p.m. pretending to be traders intending to take a bus back to their village and one of them detonated his explosives among a group of passengers waiting to board a bus," local vigilante Ahmad Girema said.

"He killed 18 people, including three women. His accomplice was, however, restrained by the crowd around before he could pull the trigger ... and (he was) beaten to death‎," Girema said.

His account was supported by Laminu Kolo, a driver at the bus ‎station.

An angry mob later doused the body of the failed bomber with gasoline and set it alight from a distance, causing the unexploded devices on him to explode, Kolo said.

Hours later, 17 people were killed in the central city of Jos when explosives were thrown on two crowds from a moving car.

"There were twin explosions along Bauchi Road this evening, which killed 1‎7 people and injured some others," said Iweaha Ikedichi, military spokesman in the city.

Ikedichi declined to provide details of the incident.

However, witnesses said two ‎explosives were thrown at an open-air bus station along Bauchi Road, killing five people and injuring several others.

"There was a heavy downpour today and soon after the rains stopped‎, a car drove along the road and two explosives were thrown at the motor park, which killed five people," said Sagir Badaru, a driver at the Bauchi Road bus station.

"The car threw another explosive in the midst of grocers outside the main bus station some hundreds of meters away, killing 12 people and wounding many," Badaru said.

Although no one has claimed responsibility for the attacks, Boko Haram Islamists, who have carried out deadly bombings in Biu and Jos, are the prime suspects.

The Islamists are believed to be behind a recent spate of suicide bombings and attacks in parts of the north in response to a sweeping offensive on Boko Haram strongholds in northeast Nigeria by a regional alliance of troops from Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria.

CNN

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Chinese construction worker kidnapped in Nasarawa, Nigeria

Gunmen on Tuesday kidnapped a Chinese National, Chui Fu Long, the police in Nasarawa State have said.

Mr. Long works with a construction company in Toto Local Government Area of Nasarawa State.

The state police spokesperson, Ismaila Numan, said that security agencies have commenced a search and rescue mission to ensure the release of the Chinese.

Mr. Numan explained that officers of Command are ensuring that the culprits are apprehended and the expatriate released as soon as possible.

He appealed to members of the public to avail the police any information that will lead to immediate release of the kidnapped man.

PREMIUM TIMES gathered that about seven gunmen stormed the Adadu construction site at about 4:30 p.m. shooting sporadically in the air before kidnapping the expatriate.

Premium Times

Related story: American missionary kidnapped in Kogi, Nigeria

Video - Nigerian army takes back Baga territory from Boko Haram

Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan says the military is gaining the upper hand against Boko Haram, despite two bombings in the country's north that killed at least 27. Goodluck, who has been criticised for his inability to end the six-year insurgency, described the attacks as the "callous bombing of soft targets".

American missionary kidnapped in Kogi, Nigeria

An American missionary in Nigeria has been kidnapped in what authorities call a "purely criminal" act.

Kogi state Police Commissioner Adeyemi Ogunjemilusi says five men kidnapped the woman from her workplace and are demanding a ransom of 60 million Naira ($301,500).

The Free Methodist Church has identified the woman as the Rev. Phyllis Sortor, a missionary based at the Hope Academy compound in Kogi state.

Kogi state is located away from the areas where Boko Haram operates, making it likely that the kidnapping is not related to terrorism. But there is also the possibility that an offshoot group could have kidnapped Sortor, or that she might be sold to another group. Police have not said if they suspect a certain group or band of criminals.

Sortor was kidnapped on Monday, Ogunjemilusi said.

The U.S. Embassy in Nigeria and the FBI have been notified of the incident, the Free Methodist Church said.

Sortor runs a nongovernmental organization that educates nomadic Fulani children, the police commissioner said.

According to her biography on the church's website, Sortor is the financial administrator of Hope Academy.

"A special friendship with a clan of nomadic Fulani has given Phyllis the opportunity to open additional schools for Fulani children and their parents," the website says.

The commissioner said five men scaled the wall of the school where Sortor's office is and "whisked her away," jumping back over the wall and fleeing to the nearby mountains.

Two of the men were masked, and they fired shots into the air to scare people away during the kidnapping, Ogunjemilusi said.

CNN