44 People Killed, 67 Injured in Nigeria Bomb Attack

Nigerian authorities reported Monday that at least 44 people were killed and 67 others injured after two bombs exploded in a Muslim restaurant and at a crowded mosque in the central city of Jos. 

Local media reports that the explosion at Yantaya Mosque came as a leading cleric who preaches peaceful co-existence was addressing a crowd during the holy month of Ramadan.

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Official sources said they were transferring the injured to hospitals in Jos, a conflict area where extremists have proliferated and where Nigeria's majority Muslim north and mainly Christian south constantly clash.

No group or organization has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, however the militant extremist group Boko Haram has been behind a number of deadly shooting attacks and bombings in various parts of Nigeria, which have left more than 15,000 people dead since it began its militancy in 2009. 

Last week the insurgent organization claimed responsibility for the killing of 200 people in remote villages in Nigeria’s northeastern Borno state. 

Authorities have also reported that nearly 2,000 women have been kidnapped in Nigeria since early last year by Boko Haram extremists, who seek to revive a medieval caliphate in Africa's most populous country and its largest energy producer. 

The recent-elected Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said Wednesday that he will “spare no effort” to defeat Boko Haram, the violent Islamist group.