Suicide bombers kill at least 26 across north Nigeria

Suicide bombers struck two bus stations in different parts of northern Nigeria on Tuesday, killing at least 26 people in attacks President Goodluck Jonathan blamed on Boko Haram, the Islamist militant group he said would soon be defeated. In the first, a suicide bomber rushed onto a bus in the northeastern town of Potiskum before setting off a blast that destroyed the bus and killed 16 people, according to security and hospital sources. In Tuesday’s second attack, two suicide bombers in a car struck a major bus station in the north’s main city of Kano, killing at least 10 people, police spokesman Ibrahim Idris said.

I saw the vehicle drive up to that point and just a few minutes later there was a loud blast. Some people were burning, others running.

witness Bello Gearam

Meanwhile, a Seattle missionary described by friends as courageous, tenacious and passionate about helping the people of Nigeria has been abducted from a school in the violence-torn African nation, her church says. The Free Methodist Church said in a statement on its website that it received a report Monday morning that the Rev. Phyllis Sortor was kidnapped from the Hope Academy compound in Emiworo, Kogi state. The message from Bishop David Kendall says the U.S. Embassy has been notified, and the State Department and the FBI are working with local authorities to find and rescue her.

nigeria Africa