Nigeria: Twin blasts rock Jos city killing at least 15 people

At least 15 people were killed after twin explosions ripped through the Nigerian city of Jos, the capital of Plateau State.

The bombs exploded within a gap of five minutes on Sunday (5 July) night. The first blast took place at a popular shopping complex in Bauchi Road and the second near a famous mosque.

Local reports suggested several people were dead though the exact death toll has yet to be ascertained but witnesses claimed seeing at least 15 bodies. Police also confirmed the blasts without specifying any casualties.

"Twin bomb blasts occurred in Jos North LGA killing several people even though casualty figure is not yet ascertained," a resident, Godwin Okoko, told Nigerian daily Vanguard.

"The first bomb exploded at Yan taya mosque during prayers near Hajiya Talatu Mai Abinchi, a popular eating spot in Bauchi road."

Sani Yahaya Jingir, a local Islamic cleric who recently condemned and disavowed the militant group Boko Haram, was thought to have been the target of the bombings. He was preaching at the mosque at the time of the blasts.

Another witness named Abubakar Shehu told Reuters: "We saw two or three vehicles coming from different directions and we started hearing gunshots from all angles and then a very loud bang, like a bomb being thrown into the mosque."

The latest explosions follow a suicide bomb attack in a church on Sunday, 5 July, in the town of Potiskum, which claimed the lives of a priest and four worshippers.

Though no one has owned responsibility for the Jos blasts as yet, they bear the hallmarks of the Boko Haram Islamist group.