At least 29 people died and 60 were wounded in multiple bomb blasts near two bus stations in the northern Nigerian city of Gombe late Wednesday.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the blasts, but they bore the hallmarks of the Islamic militant group Boko Haram, which has previously targeted crowded bus stations, markets, mosques and churches during its bloody six-year insurgency.
At least 50 people died in two bombings at a market in the same city last Friday.
The first explosion Wednesday was set off, apparently by a suicide bomber, at a mosque at Dadin Kowa motorpark as people gathered to pray, two witnesses said. A shopkeeper said a second bomb went off at Nasarawo junction near the same bus station, where people were selling vegetables.
About an hour later, officials said, two more blasts occurred at the gate of the major Duku bus station and a small nearby market.
Boko Haram has increased the frequency and intensity of its attacks since Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari was elected president in May.
On Tuesday, Buhari told VOA in an interview that a regional joint task force to fight Boko Haram would be up and running by the end of this month
Buhari said Nigeria would lead the task force, and that troops from several of Nigeria's neighbors — including Chad, Niger, Benin and Cameroon — could be deployed in operations against the militants.
Some information for this report came from Reuters.
