KANO, Nigeria, Jan. 21 (UPI) -- The death toll from a series of bombings in the northern Nigerian city of Kano was raised to 156 people Saturday, with about 50 people injured, officials said.
The Friday attacks targeted police stations and government buildings, Voice of America reported.
More than 24 blasts hit buildings around the city during a 90-minute period.
The militant Islamist group Boko Haram claimed responsibility for the bombings, the latest in a string of violent attacks in the mainly Muslim north recently, the BBC reported.
The group, whose name means "Western education is forbidden," carried out the attacks because authorities had refused to release its members arrested in Kano, Boko Haram spokesman Abul Qaqa told journalists in the northeastern city of Maiduguri. The group seeks to establish Shariah, Islamic law, in Nigeria and has been attacking Christians and animists living in the north.
Nigeria closed its borders with Niger and Cameroon Saturday and imposed a 24-hour curfew in Kano, CNN reported.
"The government is really trying but we are afraid. ... We are all scared," said the Rev. Murtala Mati of the Christian Association of Nigeria.
The curfew will remain in place until further notice, officials said.
