Blasts hit Nigerian city Kano

At least 24 people were killed and at least as many were injured late Monday when a series of bombs were detonated in Kano's Christian district, Sabon Gari, according to eye witnesses and Nigeria authorities.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

Hundreds of residents were reportedly in the area at the time of the blast. Initial reports depicted chaos at the site following the presumed attack.

"There is confusion all over the place," Chinyere Madu, a fruit vendor who witnessed the attacks, told the news agency AFP. "There were four huge explosions, so huge that they shook the whole area. Everywhere is enveloped in smoke and dust."

Another witness told the Associated Press he saw a blast come from near a parked Mercedes-Benz.

"After the first bomb, I threw myself into the canal [drain] to hide. There were at least three blasts," Kolade Ade told AP.

Kano lies in the country's Muslim north, where the Islamist al Qaeda-linked sect Boko Haram is staging an insurgency in an effort to impose Shariah, or Islamic law. About 40 percent of the Nigeria's 170 million citizens are Christian.

The Nigerian government cracked down on the insurgent group in May. Despite some success, the military has been unable to quash Boko Haram in the region.

kms/jm (AP, AFP, Reuters)