Four killed in Nigeria's Kano in double suicide bomb attack

KANO, Nigeria (Reuters) - Four people were killed when two female suicide bombers attacked the Kantin Kwari textile market in Nigeria's second city Kano on Wednesday, a police commissioner said, less than two weeks after militants attacked its main mosque. Seven others were injured, some of them traders, added the commissioner, Adenerele Shinabad. "I had finished my ablutions for afternoon prayers when we heard the blast ... I saw a police pick-up with numerous bodies in it driving away," Musa Wali, a local witness told Reuters. There was no immediate claim of responsibility but the attack bore the hallmarks of the Sunni jihadist group Boko Haram, which has been fighting for five years to establish an Islamist state in Nigeria's northeast. The group has sometimes claimed similar attacks in the past, but usually only months later. Attacks have increased sharply this year, with a presidential election looming in 2015. At the end of November, presumed Boko Haram attackers set off three bombs and opened fire on worshippers at Kano's main mosque, killing at least 100 people. The militants regard the traditional Islamic religious authorities in Nigeria with disdain and the Kano attacks may be retaliation for comments by the highly influential emir of Kano, Nigeria's second-highest Islamic authority. The emir, Lamido Sanusi, has taken a stand against the insurgents and called on citizens to defend themselves. (Reporting By Nnekule Ikemfuna, additional reporting by Isaac Abrak; Editing by Kevin Liffey)