Nigeria bomb attack in Kaduna ‘leaves 25 dead’

People gather at the site of a bomb explosion on a road in Kaduna, Nigeria, on Sunday, 4/09/2012      By Emma Kayode, AP

(SOURCE)  A bomb blast in the northern Nigerian city of Kaduna has killed at least 25 people, police say.

The bomb targeted moderate Islamic cleric Dahiru Bauchi who had been travelling in the area, police added.

He escaped unhurt. It is unclear who was behind the blast.

Militant Islamist group Boko Haram has carried out a wave of bombings and assassinations in Nigeria since it launched a brutal insurgency in 2009 to create an Islamic state.

It often targets Muslim leaders who condemn its militant ideology.

There are body parts and damaged cars on Alkali Road in the city centre, where the bomb exploded, reports the BBC’s Abdullahi Kaura Abubakar from the scene.

A trader, Yusuf Suleiman, told Reuters news agency that he had counted 15 bodies in a police van after the explosion.

Mr Bauchi had completed a preaching session in the nearby Murtala Muhammed square, and his convoy was driving through the area when the blast occurred.