ABUJA, Nigeria — A Muslim group in Nigeria identifying itself as Jama’atu Ahlus-Sunnah Lidda’Awati Wal Jihad claimed responsibility Tuesday for Christmas Eve attacks on the cities of Jos and Maiduguri that killed at least 86 people.
The group is “avenging the atrocities committed against Muslims in those areas, and the country in general,” according to a statement on its website. “Therefore we will continue with our attacks on disbelievers and their allies and all those who help them.”
Multiple bomb blasts in Jos, capital of the central state of Plateau, targeted public places, including a Catholic church, killing at least 80 people, according to Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency. Two churches also were hit by gunmen on the same day in Maiduguri, capital of Borno state in northeast Nigeria, killing six people, said Mohammed Abuba kar, commissioner of police.
Africa’s top oil producer and most populous country with more than 140 million people, roughly split between a mainly Muslim north and a mostly Christian south, has suffered outbursts of sectarian violence. At least 14,000 people have died in ethnic and religious violence since 1999 in Nigeria, according to the Brussels-based International Crisis Group.
