Car bombs exploded one after the other in a busy market area and adjoining bus terminal in the city of Jos in central Nigeria killing 162 people and wounding 45 on Tuesday afternoon. Although no group claimed responsibility for the attacks immediately, the Islamic fundamentalist organisation Boko Haram is known to have carried out similar attacks in the country since its insurrection five years ago.

Mohammed Abdulsalam, coordinator of the National Emergency Management Emergency (NEMA) in Nigeria’s north central region, said Wednesday the casualty figures were collated after visits to Plateau Specialist Hospital and Bingham Hospital in Jos.

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At least 27 people were killed Tuesday when rebels launched an attack on an army position in Yemen, an official said.

The attacks targeted an army position on the western outskirts of the country’s northern province of Amran, some 50 km north of the capital Sanaa, Xinhua reported.

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The Syrian military has headed toward the border with Israel and Jordan for an offensive against Sunni rebels.

The opposition said the Syrian Army and Air Force launched a major offensive against U.S.-trained rebels near the frontier with Israel and Jordan.

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Libya’s army chief has ordered the deployment of Islamist-led militias to the capital, a day after the storming of the parliament building in Tripoli by a renegade general’s troops.

Monday’s development paves way for a possible showdown between the militias — which hail from Libya’s western and central regions — and the anti-Islamist troops allied with Gen. Khalifa Hifter, who staged the parliament attack Sunday and said they suspended the Islamist-dominated house, blaming it for empowering Islamic extremists.

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Prime Minister Moussa Mara was visiting the northern town of Kidal on Saturday when fighting broke out. He was forced to take shelter as Tuareg separatists attacked and seized a regional governor’s office.

“In light of this declaration of war, the Republic of Mali is henceforth at war,” Prime Minister Mara told a Reuters reporter inside the base overnight.

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