Bloody reprisals after Nigerian church blasts, toll climbs to 50
Source: Agencies |
June 19, 2012, Tuesday
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AID workers searched for bodies yesterday among charred vehicles and destroyed market stalls after a trio of church bombings sparked reprisal killings in northern Nigeria, officials said. The Nigerian Red Cross said the death toll had more than doubled, to 50 people.
A radical Islamist sect yesterday claimed responsibility for Sunday's suicide attacks at two churches in the city of Zaria and another in the city of Kaduna that left 21 people dead, according to an initial count.
The reprisals highlight festering religious tensions in Nigeria, a nation of more than 160 million people. The attacks occurred in the religious flashpoint state of Kaduna that sits at the border between the country's predominantly Muslim north and its mainly Christian south. A history of attacks and counterattacks between the two communities means that authorities are often cautious about releasing death figures.
Officials initially said 21 people were killed in Sunday morning's blasts. But the Nigerian Red Cross said late on Sunday that the death toll had jumped to 50, to include reprisal killings. Officials refused to give a breakdown clarifying who died in the initial blasts and who was killed in reprisals.
"We did that for a reason," said Andronicus Adeyemo, deputy head of disaster management at the Nigerian Red Cross. "Those figures are sensitive."
Authorities fear that a breakdown of the deaths will trigger revenge killings. Most of the victims killed in church on Sunday are presumed to be Christian and most of those killed in reprisal attacks are presumed to be Muslim, raising concerns that a distinction between initial and reprisal deaths will be interpreted as a Christian and Muslim breakdown.
In Kaduna, relief officials said they were still collecting bodies yesterday. Most victims were petty traders and transporters such as bus drivers and motorcycle taxi drivers, who are presumed to be Muslim and who commute daily to the predominantly Christian southern part of the city. The state government initially imposed a 24-hour curfew, but relaxed it yesterday to a dusk-until-dawn curfew.
The group known as Boko Haram said in an email that it was responsible for the church attacks. "Allah has given us victory in the attacks we launched (Sunday) against churches in Kaduna and Zaria towns which resulted in the deaths of many Christians and security personnel," the statement said in the local Hausa language.
Boko Haram, whose name means "Western education is sacrilege" in Hausa, is waging an increasingly bloody fight with Nigeria's security agencies and public.
As news of the church attacks filtered through the city on Sunday, young Christians took to the streets in violent protest. Police said that about 1,000 Muslims took refuge at police quarters.
A radical Islamist sect yesterday claimed responsibility for Sunday's suicide attacks at two churches in the city of Zaria and another in the city of Kaduna that left 21 people dead, according to an initial count.
The reprisals highlight festering religious tensions in Nigeria, a nation of more than 160 million people. The attacks occurred in the religious flashpoint state of Kaduna that sits at the border between the country's predominantly Muslim north and its mainly Christian south. A history of attacks and counterattacks between the two communities means that authorities are often cautious about releasing death figures.
Officials initially said 21 people were killed in Sunday morning's blasts. But the Nigerian Red Cross said late on Sunday that the death toll had jumped to 50, to include reprisal killings. Officials refused to give a breakdown clarifying who died in the initial blasts and who was killed in reprisals.
"We did that for a reason," said Andronicus Adeyemo, deputy head of disaster management at the Nigerian Red Cross. "Those figures are sensitive."
Authorities fear that a breakdown of the deaths will trigger revenge killings. Most of the victims killed in church on Sunday are presumed to be Christian and most of those killed in reprisal attacks are presumed to be Muslim, raising concerns that a distinction between initial and reprisal deaths will be interpreted as a Christian and Muslim breakdown.
In Kaduna, relief officials said they were still collecting bodies yesterday. Most victims were petty traders and transporters such as bus drivers and motorcycle taxi drivers, who are presumed to be Muslim and who commute daily to the predominantly Christian southern part of the city. The state government initially imposed a 24-hour curfew, but relaxed it yesterday to a dusk-until-dawn curfew.
The group known as Boko Haram said in an email that it was responsible for the church attacks. "Allah has given us victory in the attacks we launched (Sunday) against churches in Kaduna and Zaria towns which resulted in the deaths of many Christians and security personnel," the statement said in the local Hausa language.
Boko Haram, whose name means "Western education is sacrilege" in Hausa, is waging an increasingly bloody fight with Nigeria's security agencies and public.
As news of the church attacks filtered through the city on Sunday, young Christians took to the streets in violent protest. Police said that about 1,000 Muslims took refuge at police quarters.
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