The first bomb exploded after the worshippers left a mosque in Baquba, just north of Baghdad. A second bomb went off as people gathered to help the wounded, killing at least 40 and injuring dozens more.

Friday’s attacks followed a wave of bombings in Iraq this week.

Video Report: Bomb Attacks Across Iraq

Bomb attacks kill dozens across Iraq by reuters

On Thursday, 25 people were killed in separate car bombings in Shi’ite neighborhoods of Baghdad and Kirkuk. And at least 33 were killed on Wednesday in bombings in the capital and other cities.

Prime Minister Nouri-al-Maliki is blaming the deaths on rising sectarian violence that has plagued the country since security forces raided a Sunni protest camp near Kirkuk last month.

Authorities say that raid ratcheted sectarian tensions to their highest point since the pullout of U.S. troops in late 2011.

The United Nations is calling the last month the deadliest in Iraq since June 2008, when more than 700 people were killed.

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The bombings hit an area of Turkey close to the Syrian border, which has seen a massive influx of refugees fleeing the civil war in Syria. Turkish authorities have previously claimed that the two bombings were carried out by a group with connections to the embattled Syrian government in Damascus, but Syria has denied that there is any truth behind these accusations.

A total of 17 people have been detained by police investigating the deadly attacks. Out of this seventeen prosecutors have attempted to bring charges against eight, however four of these were released by the court leaving just four men facing as yet unspecified charges.

Four men under arrest in Turkey over bombings near Syrian border by reuters

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DAKAR, SENEGAL — Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has declared a state of emergency in three northern Nigerian states and ordered the immediate deployment of more troops, in response to a surge of violence the president says poses a “very serious threat” to Nigeria’s territorial integrity. Radical Islamist sect, Boko Haram, has been expanding and intensifying its more than three-year-old insurgency, while other criminal and ethnic militias increasingly target security forces.

Boko Haram made its name with drive-by shootings and suicide bombings in northern Nigerian cities, and the capital Abuja. Targets were security installations, markets, churches and even the U.N. headquarters in Abuja in August 2011.

Recent, high-profile raids against military and police in the far northeastern border towns of Baga and Bama, however, highlight what experts say are key shifts in the group’s tactics and capabilities.

Thriving terrorism

Spokesman for the Joint Military Task Force [JTF] in Borno state, Lt. Col. Sagir Musa said, “There is literally a resurgence of terrorist activities in Borno State, mostly in the rural areas. We have observed the resurgence and where it is coming from and necessary measures are on to stop it and soon it will be stopped.”

But there is concern that Boko Haram is gaining the upper hand.

Analysts, human rights activists and northern residents say reported abuses against civilians and Boko Haram detainees by the Nigerian security forces have undercut cooperation and potentially fed recruitment into the sect.

Reuters news agency reports that parts of Borno state have fallen under de-facto Boko Haram control.

Residents of Maiduguri, like one retired soldier, said the militants have a local advantage.

“It’s a common knowledge. People have been saying that they are living within the forest ahead of area on the way to Monguno,” he said. “Some people are saying that a large percentage of them are living within Bama forest. Some are saying they are in Sambisa and in Damboa having military trainings. To my mind, unless [there is] a serious concerted effort, and unless a very, very protracted intelligence gathering is embarked upon, we could say that the Boko Haram is winning the war.”

Shifting strategy

Nigeria analyst for the Washington-based Jamestown Foundation, Jacob Zenn, said he has seen recent Boko Haram propaganda videos, not all of them made public, that indicate their freedom of movement.

“It’s amazing how they can just drive around and train in desert areas of northeastern Nigeria freely for a group that’s supposedly being hotly pursued,” he said.

Zenn said the shift to more rural targets appears strategic.

“It seems that Boko Haram has come under pressure in some of the major cities like Maiduguri, and is actually realizing that it is preferable for Boko Haram to operate in the rural areas where the government doesn’t have too many forces. And there it can establish havens. It can train. It can keep hostages,” said Zenn.

Boko Haram only recently has entered the kidnapping business, something analysts say is further evidence of links forged with al Qaida’s North Africa franchise, which along with two other militant Islamist groups, held northern Mali for 10 months before a French-led military intervention in January.

Boko Haram’s first major grab was a French family of seven from northern Cameroon in February. The family was released two months later, though the full terms of their release were not made public.

Rampant kidnappings

Boko Haram says it is now kidnapping local women and children in retaliation for the wives and children of their members who are being held by government and security officials.

Sect leader Abubakar Shekau made the threat in the sect’s most recent video, released May 13, which shows footage of a dozen unidentified women and children that he claims are hostages.

Shekau said they will kidnap more. He said if they can’t see their women and children, then no one will be allowed to enjoy his family. He said God allows them to consider all those they capture as slaves. And, he told security forces, If you think you can rescue them, then “we challenge you to try.”

Boko Haram continues to upgrade its weaponry and expand its capabilities.

The JTF said the Boko Haram raid in Bama on May 7 that killed 55 people – most of them police and security forces – was a brutal, multi-pronged attack by 200 militants who stormed the town with anti-aircraft guns mounted on vehicles.

Experts say Boko Haram likely is obtaining weapons, ammunition and explosives from black-market channels flowing through the Sahel region, as well as seizing them from the Nigerian security forces.

VOA obtained a Boko Haram propaganda video filmed after a March 3 raid against a military barracks in the northeastern town of Monguno.

In the video, a masked militant surrounded by fighters shows off an extensive display of what he says are arms and thousands of rounds of ammunition seized from the Monguno barracks. The camera pans over neatly laid out rows of heavy machine guns, rifles, RPGs and magazines, which the speaker calls the “bounty of God.”

An independent arms control expert examined the video and told VOA that the weapons shown are consistent with those known to be in the Nigerian military arsenal.

Video: Nigerian President Declares State of Emergency

Nigeria president declares state of emergency by Al Jazeera English

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MOSCOW — The Kremlin has weighed in on the expulsion of an American man Moscow accuses of spying for the Central Intelligence Agency.

President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said Wednesday that U.S. Embassy official Ryan Fogle’s tried to recruit a Russian intelligence officer for the CIA, and that this does not contribute to building trust between the former Cold War foes.

Fogle, a third secretary at the U.S. Embassy, was detained Monday night by Russia’s Federal Security Service and accused of carrying a large amount of cash, wigs, microphones and written instructions to the Russian agent he allegedly sought to recruit. Russian state television broadcast footage of Fogle being arrested. It also showed Fogle’s alleged spy material.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov summoned U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul to his office Wednesday in connection with the incident. Following the meeting, McFaul refused comment.

On the sidelines of talks in Sweden with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Lavrov said there was no need to comment on the scandal.

Lavrov said he and Kerry did not talk about the incident, adding that it’s pointless to talk about the matter because everything is already public knowledge.

The spy scandal is the latest in a string of spats between Moscow and Washington. Both sides continue to disagree on several important international issues, including Syria, missile defense and adoptions.

Meanwhile, Moscow has not announced any further action regarding Fogle’s alleged spying.

Video Report

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Amid a spray of gunfire, unidentified men on motorbikes Thursday sped up to the rally and kidnapped Ali Haider Gilani, who was addressing his supporters.

Gilani had just finished speaking to his People’s Party of Pakistan supporters in the eastern town when the attack took place. Party official Malik Aamir Dogar said three men then pushed Gilani into a car and drove away.

“When he finished the meeting, he go outside. Some people came on motorcycle and straight away they start the firing, and one guard is killed at the movement, and his private secretary is injured at the movement, and there are total of three people and they pulled out to Haider Gilani into the car and they go out,” said Dogar.

Candidates have been holding their final rallies before voters head to the polls to elect a new national assembly on May 11. Gilani was running for a provincial assembly seat in Multan.

Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari immediately condemned the attack, saying it was a “reprehensible act of a cowardly enemy.” Zardari called on the Election Commission and caretaker government to ensure the elections were not hijacked by extremist elements.

The kidnapping is the latest incident in what has turned out to be the most violent election campaign in Pakistan’s history.

Militants and extremists with differing objectives have attacked and killed candidates and party supporters in different areas of the country, targeting not only moderate and secular parties like the PPP, but also religious and nationalist parties.

Dogar, who called off his own political rally as a result of the attack, said the Taliban most likely was behind Gilani’s abduction.   Multan city Police Chief Ghulam Muhammad Dogar, who is not related to Malik Aamir Dogar, said the police were moving swiftly to find the captors.

He said police have sealed all the roads joining the district of Multan, and that district police officers are out in force. He also noted that they are making every effort to ensure that all vehicles crossing district boundaries are being checked.

Militant groups, such as the Sunni extremist Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and other pro-Taliban organizations, are known to operate in the southern Punjab area where Multan is located.

Despite the violence, elections are expected to go ahead as planned on May 11.

Video Report: Former PM Urges Restraint After Son’s Abduction

Former Pakistani PM urges restraint after son’s abduction by reuters