Nigeria's Boko Haram crisis: Zaria bomb 'kills 25'

School teachers were among the victims of the bombing

A bomb attack has killed at least 25 people and wounded 32 others in northern Nigeria's Zaria city, the state governor has said.

A suspected suicide bomber targeted civil servants at a government building in the city, witnesses said.

Emergency workers have rushed to the scene to help evacuate the wounded.

Militant Islamist group Boko Haram, which often targets northern Nigeria, has stepped up attacks since President Muhammudu Buhari took office in May.

The group has not yet commented on the latest attack.

It came a day after police chief Solomon Arase announced new measures to curb the rise in bombings. They include:

• banning street trading and hawking in the capital, Abuja

• strengthening security at all mosques and churches countrywide.

Witnesses in Zaria said people including primary school teachers had been queuing up seeking employment under Mr Buhari's administration when the bomb detonated in Zaria's Sabon Gari district.

Emergency services battled to cope in the aftermath of the bombing

"We call on our citizens to be vigilant and avoid crowded places like markets, mosques, churches and motor parks in the next few weeks," Kaduna state governor Nasir El-Rufa'i said on his Twitter account.

Mr El-Rufa'i said the government was working with the security agencies to end the wave of militant attacks in the country.

                                            -bbc.com