Suicide blast on church in Nigeria kills 8, injures 100
Source: Agencies |
October 29, 2012, Monday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
A suicide bomber drove a jeep packed with explosives into a Catholic church in northern Nigeria yesterday, killing at least eight people, injuring over 100 and triggering reprisal attacks that killed at least two more, officials said.
The bomber drove right into the packed St Rita's church in the Malali area of Kaduna, a volatile ethnically and religiously mixed city, in the morning, witnesses said.
A spokesman for the National Emergency Management Agency, Yushua Shuaib, said eight people had been killed and over 100 injured.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility but Islamist sect Boko Haram has claimed similar attacks in the past and has attacked several churches with bombs and guns as it intensified its campaign against Christians in the past year.
"The heavy explosion also damaged so many buildings around the area," said survivor Linus Lighthouse.
A wall of the church was blasted open and scorched black, with debris lying around. Police cordoned the area off.
Church attacks often target Nigeria's middle belt, where its largely Christian south and mostly Muslim north meet and where sectarian tensions run high. Kaduna's mixed population lies along that faultline.
Shortly after the blast, angry Christian youths took to the streets armed with sticks and knives. A Reuters reporter saw two bodies at the roadside lying in pools of blood.
"We killed them and we'll do more," shouted a youth, with blood on his shirt, before police chased him and others away. Police set up roadblocks and patrols across the town in an effort to prevent the violence spreading.
The bomber drove right into the packed St Rita's church in the Malali area of Kaduna, a volatile ethnically and religiously mixed city, in the morning, witnesses said.
A spokesman for the National Emergency Management Agency, Yushua Shuaib, said eight people had been killed and over 100 injured.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility but Islamist sect Boko Haram has claimed similar attacks in the past and has attacked several churches with bombs and guns as it intensified its campaign against Christians in the past year.
"The heavy explosion also damaged so many buildings around the area," said survivor Linus Lighthouse.
A wall of the church was blasted open and scorched black, with debris lying around. Police cordoned the area off.
Church attacks often target Nigeria's middle belt, where its largely Christian south and mostly Muslim north meet and where sectarian tensions run high. Kaduna's mixed population lies along that faultline.
Shortly after the blast, angry Christian youths took to the streets armed with sticks and knives. A Reuters reporter saw two bodies at the roadside lying in pools of blood.
"We killed them and we'll do more," shouted a youth, with blood on his shirt, before police chased him and others away. Police set up roadblocks and patrols across the town in an effort to prevent the violence spreading.
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