Updated at 7.42pm
AT LEAST 120 people have been killed and 270 others wounded after suicide bomb and gun attacks during prayers at a mosque of one of Nigeria’s top Islamic leaders — a week after he issued a call to arms against Boko Haram.
The blasts happened at the Grand Mosque in Kano — the biggest city in the Muslim north of the country — just as Friday prayers had got under way.
The mosque is attached to the palace of the Emir of Kano Muhammad Sanusi II, Nigeria’s second most senior Muslim cleric.
The blasts came after a bomb attack was foiled against a mosque in the northeastern city of Maiduguri this morning.
Police said two suicide bombers and gunmen carried out the mass attack.
After the assailants blew themselves up in succession”gunmen opened fire on those who were trying to escape”, a national police spokesman said.
He could not give the exact number of gunmen involved — but they were estimated to be fewer than 15.
He said a mob killed four of the attackers while the rest escaped in the chaotic aftermath.
A rescue official said emergency workers were still trying to visit all the Kano area hospitals to fully assess the damage from the brutal attack targeting worshippers.
The Emir of Kano last week told worshippers at the same mosque that northerners should take up arms against Boko Haram, which has been fighting for a hardline Islamic state since 2009.
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