Two explosions near churches during Christmas Day services in Nigeria, including one outside the country’s capital, killed at least 28 people amid spiralling violence claimed by Islamist sect Boko Haram. “We are responsible for all the attacks in the past few days, including today’s bombing of the church in Madalla,” the group’s Abul Qaqa said by phone. “We will continue to launch such attacks throughout the north in the next few days.”
The attacks stoked fear and anger in Africa’s most populous nation, which has been hit by scores of bombings and shootings attributed to Boko Haram, with authorities seemingly unable to stop them.
The area around the scene of the blast outside the capital Abuja, which killed at least 27, degenerated into chaos after the explosion, with angry youths starting fires and threatening to attack a nearby police station.
Police shot into the air to disperse them and closed a major highway. Emergency officials called for more ambulances as rescuers sought to evacuate the dead and wounded, and calm later returned to the area.
In a swift response, a Vatican spokesman condemned that attack as an act of “blind hatred” which sought “to arouse and feed even more hatred and confusion.”
A bomb blast later hit outside an evangelical church hundreds of miles away in the central city of Jos, killing a policeman, according to a spokesman for the governor.
Meanwhile, another explosion targeted a church in the northeastern area of Gadaka on Christmas Eve, but no one was reported killed, while two other blasts hit the northeastern city of Damaturu on Christmas Day, including a suspected suicide bombing.
Emergency officials initially said the blast outside Abuja happened in the church, but later said it occurred near it, with the impact felt inside the church, which was also damaged.
Holes could be seen in the wall of the St. Theresa Catholic Church in Madalla and the roof was badly damaged. What looked to be blood was splashed on the outside of the wall.
In recent days in three cities in the northeast, where most of the violence attributed to Boko Haram has occurred, attacks blamed on the sect followed by a heavy military crackdown killed up to 100 people, authorities and a rights group have said.
The chief of army staff, Lt. Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika, was quoted by local media as saying soldiers killed 59 Boko Haram members in the northeastern city of Damaturu. Shootouts had taken place on Thursday and Friday.
Others said the total death toll on all sides – authorities, extremists and civilians – could be as high as 100. A purported spokesman for Boko Haram claimed responsibility for the initial violence in the three northeastern cities, saying they were revenge for a brutal military assault against the sect in 2009.
There has been intense speculation over whether Boko Haram has formed links with outside extremist groups, including Al-Qaeda’s north African branch.
