23 killed in Nigeria blasts

LAGOS - At least 23 people were killed in a series of bomb blasts that rocked Nigeria’s restive Jos city on the Christmas eve, a local hospital official said Saturday.

Another 32 victims were receiving treatment in hospital, Ishaya Pam, chief medical director at the Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH), was quoted as saying by Xinhua.

Earlier, a source, who declined to be named, said over phone from Jos, capital of the Plateau State, that he counted more than 20 bodies at the JUTH Saturday morning.

At least nine explosions reportedly hit different parts of the state in the centre of the country within an hour of each other late Friday.

An uneasy calm prevailed in the state after the attacks as local Christians celebrated Christmas.

The spokesperson to state governor James Mannok described the situation as beyond ordinary imagination. “All I can confirm for now is that bombs exploded in three places. The effect is devastating. I can’t say more,” he told Xinhua.

State Commissioner for Information Greg Yenlong said the incident confirmed threats and rumours of more attacks on the Plateau.

The blasts came a week after a Nigerian court sentenced 15 people each to 10 years in prison for involvement in violent clashes in Jos in March.

Jos was plunged in bloody violence March 7, when members of local Muslim and Christian communities fought each other in revenge for previous killings.

Police said 109 people were killed in the March 7 tragedy, mostly women and children, weeks after hundreds died in waves of sectarian violence in the region.

Observers have said the clashes are more than religious, as the Muslims, largely nomadic herdsmen from the north of the country, come into conflict with farming Christians from the south.