Nigeria attacks targeting ex-dictator, cleric kills 42

Officials ordered everyone off the streets and imposed an around-the-clock curfew to restore order in the targeted city of Kaduna, as rescue workers raced to care for the dozens of wounded.

Police said the first attack was carried out by a suicide bomber on the convoy of Sheikh Dahiru Bauchi, a cleric who has fiercely criticised Boko Haram's deadly five-year uprising.The blast which went off at about 12:30 pm (1130 GMT) killed at least 25 people, but Bauchi escaped unhurt, Kaduna state police chief Umar Shehu said.

The second attack some two hours later that killed 17 people targeted Muhammadu Buhari, one of Nigeria's most prominent opposition leaders who also ruled the country as a military dictator from 1983 to 1985.

In a statement Buhari called it "clearly an assassination attempt" when an attempt was made to ram his car as it passed through a market area and a bomb was denoted which "destroyed all three cars in our convoy".

"Unfortunately, when I came out of my vehicle I saw many dead bodies... innocent people going about their daily business," said Buhari, who escaped injury.

Buhari has also faced threats from Boko Haram, which accuses him of betraying Islam by accepting democratic rule.

While there was no immediate claim of responsibility, the circumstances pointed directly to the Islamic extremists whose uprising has increasingly threatened the stability of Africa's most populous country and top oil producer.

President Goodluck Jonathan denounced "the dastardly targeting of the prominent political and religious leaders by terrorists and enemies of the nation".

He also said the government would continue and intensify its efforts "to curb the menance of terrorism," the presidency statement said.