Yesterday there were a number of bombs and some shootings in the northern Nigerian city of Kano, where Susan is living and working. We’ve spoken on the phone a few times and the plan is that she and other British government workers are evacuated as soon as the roads are open and the curfew lifted. From what Susan says, it looks like the current confirmed numbers of deaths are too low. The Boko Haram group – the name means something like ‘western education is forbidden’ – have claimed responsibility. They did the police headquarters bombing in Abuja in June (shortly after I’d arrived in the capital); the August UN building bombing; and the Christmas day attack on the church there, among many other attacks in the north of the country. But the coordinated nature of this attack seems a further escalation.

The reports online are patchy, but the The Guardian; FT (needs subscription); BBC News (and a short video there); and the BBC on background on Boko Haram are worth a look. Nigerian Channels TV doesn’t have much; the New York Times uses the Associated Press report; LA Times report comes from Jo’burg…