Nigerian mosque attack deaths climb to 120

    UPDATED: NOV 29, 2014 01:23 GMT
At least 120 people were killed and 270 others wounded on Friday when two suicide bombers blew themselves up and gunmen opened fire on a Muslim congregation at Friday prayers in the central mosque in northern Nigeria's largest city of Kano, a rescue official said.
The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the toll could rise, as some of the wounded were in critical condition and may not survive.
A third bomb exploded outside the mosque among a crowd of worshipers.
The attacks come two weeks after the emir of Kano, Muhammad Sanusi II, one of Nigeria's most influential monarchs, called for self-defense, urging people to procure arms and fight Islamist militant group Boko Haram‎, which has a significant presence in the area.
The emir made the call at the same mosque where Friday's attack occurred.
Although there was no immediate claim of responsibility, Boko Haram is the main suspect. Many believe the attacks were reprisals for the emir's call to arms against the terror group.
A CNN reporter at the morgue of the Murtala Mohammed Specialist Hospital -- one of two hospitals treating victims of the attacks -- counted 94 bodies and was told by a health professional involved in collecting bodies that 38 bodies already had been identified and taken by relations for burial.
"We have around 140 dead bodies brought from the mosque and more than 160 being treated for various injuries," the health professional said, asking not to be named because he was not authorized to speak on casualties.
"This is only for this hospital. Other corpses and wounded victims have been taken to Nassarawa Specialist Hospital," he said.
At Nassarawa Specialist Hospital, a rescue worker said the facility had received scores of injured and dead.