New deadly blasts target civilians in Nigerian Gombe

At least 37 people were killed in three separate blasts in Gombe on Wednesday night, with the attackers targeting a mosque, a bus stop and a small market. According to witnesses, the death toll is expected to rise.

On Thursday, Nigerian officials called for urgent blood donations for 105 people wounded in the attacks.

This is the second string of suicide attacks on Gombe in less than one week, after two blasts claimed some 50 lives last Friday.

Although nobody immediately claimed responsibility for the bombings, the Wednesday blasts bear the hallmarks of the Islamist group Boko Haram, the Islamist group that has killed thousands during their fight to establish a caliphate in northeast Nigeria.

Also on Wednesday, suicide bombers killed at least 18 in neighboring Cameroon, officials said. The series of attacks attributed to Boko Haram has killed 430 in this month alone.

The Jihadist group has boosted their efforts after the new Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari took power in late March. Buhari, a former military strongman, has vowed to defeat the insurgency.

Buhari asks US for more weapons

Buhari returned to Nigerian capital Abuja on Thursday, after a four-day visit to the United States. During his diplomatic trip, Buhari stated that Nigerian forces were "largely impotent" against Boko Haram, due to the lack of appropriate weapons.

Buhari also urged American officials to find a way around the so-called Leahy Law, which limits weapons' sales to armies suspected of gross human rights violations.

Amnesty International claims that Nigeria's military is responsible for the deaths of 8,000 detainees.

"The application of the Leahy law ... has aided and abetted the Boko Haram terrorist group in the prosecution of its extremist ideology and hate, the indiscriminate killings and maiming of civilians, in raping of women and girls, and in their other heinous crimes," Buhari said.

dj/rc (Reuters, AP, dpa, epd)