Christians around the world really need our prayers, especially in Nigeria after this weekends devastating attack that killed 7 and wounded 145. These attacks are also causing reprisal attacks by Christian youth who I assume are pretty tired of having their churches blown into pieces and their family members killed.
CBN NEWS – Seven people are dead and at least 100 others were injured after a suicide bomber ran an SUV filled with explosives into a Catholic church during mass Sunday.
The bombing in Kaduna is the latest in a series attacks on Nigerian churches. No group claimed responsibility for this attack.
The radical Islamist group Boko Haram has attacked several Nigerian churches this year, killing hundreds.
Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan condemned the attack.
“The persistence of messengers of evil will not prevail over the will of the government and the people to secure peace and safety,” Reuben Abati, a spokesman for the president, said.
Al-Arabiya offers more detail:
A suicide attacker drove a car bomb into a Nigerian church on Sunday, sparking fierce reprisals which led a Christian mob to burn a man alive in a day of violence that killed at least 10 people and wounded 145.
The church attack left at least seven people dead in addition to the bomber, while at least three people were killed in reprisal violence, a rescue official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to provide figures.
According to Musa Ilallah, regional coordinator for the National Emergency Management Agency, the number of wounded was 145.
Christian youths took to the streets of the northern city of Kaduna with knives and sticks after the blast, targeting those they believed to be Muslims as anger again boiled over due to repeated church bombings in recent months.
Attackers beat a motorcycle taxi driver near the church, then put his bike on top of him before drenching him with petrol and setting him on fire, an AFP correspondent who saw the violence said. Two other bloodied bodies apparently killed by the mob were seen near the church.
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The attacker rammed what residents said was an SUV into St. Rita church, shaking the Malali neighborhood of Kaduna, a city that has suffered a wave of deadly violence blamed on Islamist extremist group Boko Haram.
“All of a sudden it drove on high speed and rammed into the church wall, forcing its way into the church premises,” said witness Samuel Emmanuel.
“Initially I thought the driver had lost control of the vehicle. Suddenly there was a huge explosion as the car reached the church building. It was dust, fire and smoke all over.”
A spokesman for the National Emergency Management Agency confirmed the bomb attack and said rescuers had been rushed to the scene. The Red Cross also helped evacuate victims and assisted in treating them.
A Kaduna-based rights activist, Shehu Sani, issued a statement after Sunday’s violence saying “our churches and mosques have now become a hostile arena for deranged and murderous psychopaths. The government of Nigeria must wake up and live up to its duties and constitutional responsibilities,” he said. “We must find a lasting solution to this carnage and arbitrariness.”