TheCable

Forty-four people were killed while 47 sustained injuries in Jos, capital of Plateau state, when Boko Haram insurgents struck inside a mosque and a restaurant in the city, on Sunday.

Mohammed Abdulsalam, coordinator of the north-central zone of the national emergency management agency, said the injured were responding to treatment in different hospitals in Jos.

A resident of the town had told TheCable that the attack happened around 9 pm while people were listening to Ramadan lecture inside a mosque.

The main target in the mosque attack is believed to be Sani Yahya Jingir, an influential cleric who heads the Jama’atu Izalatul Bid’a Wa Ikamatu Sunnah, a powerful Islamic movement with millions of followers across Nigeria.

He has been preaching against Boko Haram’s ideology since 2010 and has, in the past, survived an assassination attempt in his house.

Last year, he wrote a book titled ‘Boko Halal’ – meaning ‘Western education is permissible’ – to counter Boko Haram’s position that it is forbidden.

Sunday’s attacks happened hours after a suicide bomber killed about six people at a branch of the Redeemed Christian Church of God in the Jigawa area of Potiskum, Yobe state.

This is the first attack in Jos since May 29 when President Muhammadu Buhari was sworn into office.