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Sunday, 25 May 2014

Three dead as Champions League fans targeted in another Jos blast

At least three people were killed on Saturday in the Central Nigerian city of Jos in an explosion aimed at football fans watch the European Champions League final, the authorities said.
Anti-bomb police officers working near the engine of the Jeep used by the suicide bomber that ThisDay newspapers in Abuja on 26 April 2012. AFP PHOTO

The blasts came just days after a twin car bomb through a crowded market in the city ripped, 118 dead and raising fears of a spread of Boko Haram Islamic violence from the restive Northeast.
"So far, we have three dead, three wounded," Chris Olakpe, told the Police Commissioner for Plateau state, of which Jos is the capital, AFP.
"The goal was the Center (football)."
Olakpe said it was too early to say that may have been responsible for the explosion, which came with people on edge and nerves frayed over a fresh strike.

The police Chief also refused comment on reports that the explosion was a suicide bombing but revealed that the bomber went prematurely improvised explosive device.
"He died in the wake of the heinous crime. He was consumed by his IED. It exploded before viewing Center because of pressure from local young people and the alertness of the local population, "he added.
Pam Ayuba, spokesman for the Plateau State Governor Jonah Jang, said the explosion happened at about 9: 30 pm (2030 GMT) at Bauchi Road, a predominantly Muslim area of the city.
Football is Nigeria's national sport, and European top teams, especially from the English Premier League but also Spain's top flight, have a fanatical following.
Spanish giants Real Madrid took the Champions League title on Saturday.
So-called football "viewing centers" — often open air, large screen locations — its been targeted before, elsewhere in Nigeria.
Last month, suspected Boko Haram gunmen stormed a packed place in Potiskum, Northeast Yobe State and shot dead two people show the two games in the Champions League quarter-final.
Police at the time did not directly blame Boko Haram for the attack, but the group is known for preaching against football as part of its agenda to impose strict sharia law in Northern Nigeria.
In different video clips, Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau football and music has described as a Western ploy to distract Muslims from their religion.
Tuesday the bomb attacks in Jos — Nigeria the deadliest — came despite the Government's internationally backed security crackdown after the militant group kidnapped more than 200 school girls last month.
Jos is the capital of the State of Plateau, which in Nigeria of so-called Middle Belt, where the mainly Christian South meets the Muslim-majority North, and has seen deadly sectarian clashes in the past.
Boko Haram also has previously attacked the religiously divided city.

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