Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan condemns bombings

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has condemned twin bombings in the central city of Jos in which at least 118 people were killed, the BBC reported.

Mr Jonathan said those who carried out the attack were cruel and evil.

It is feared more bodies still lie under the rubble of buildings destroyed by the explosions, which targeted a crowded market and a hospital.

The president said he was committed to fighting terrorism despite criticism that he has failed to ensure security.

Nigeria is facing a sustained campaign by the Islamist Boko Haram militant group who last month abducted 200 girls from a boarding school in the north-eastern town of Chibok.

President Jonathan described Tuesday's attack as a "tragic assault on human freedom."

"President Jonathan assures all Nigerians that [the] government remains fully committed to winning the war against terror and... Will not be cowed by the atrocities of enemies of human progress and civilisation," his office said.

He announced increased measures to tackle the militants, including a multinational force around Lake Chad which comprises a battalion each from Chad, Niger, Cameroon and Nigeria.

The second blast in Jos came 30 minutes after the first, killing rescue workers who had rushed to the scene, which was enveloped by clouds of black smoke.

"It's horrifying, terrible," said Mark Lipdo of the Stefanos Foundation, a Christian charity based in the city who said the air was heavy with the smell of burning bodies.

Witnesses described a grim scene of dead and badly injured people - some with limbs blown off - besides fires still raging out of control eight hours after the attack.

Dozens of those dead and injured were covered in grain that had been loaded in the second car bomb, witnesses said.