NIGERIA: Islamist militant group Boko Haram claims responsibility for bombs that exploded on Christmas Day at churches in Nigeria, one of which killed at least 27 people on the outskirts of the capital

Record ID: 235400

  • Title: NIGERIA: Islamist militant group Boko Haram claims responsibility for bombs that exploded on Christmas Day at churches in Nigeria, one of which killed at least 27 people on the outskirts of the capital
  • Date: 26th December 2011
  • Summary: ABUJA, NIGERIA (DECEMBER 25, 2011) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF CHURCH WHERE BOMB ATTACK HAPPENED; DESTROYED CARS BELOW VARIOUS OF DESTROYED CARS HOLE IN GROUND FROM BLAST SOLDIERS HOLDING CROWD BACK BEHIND CORDON (SOUNDBITE) (English) EMERGENCY WORKER, LABARAN AMAD, SAYING: "The teams are going to the hospital to get the exact figures. So we will update you as soon as we get the actual figure. SOLDIERS ON GUARD AT SCENE AMBULANCE DRIVING SOLDIERS ON GUARD (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHURCH PRIEST, PATRICH ACHI, UNNAMED, SAYING: "Households, entire households gone. The two very close to the front in there - the first ones there - there were five people (in the family). And the people on the (inaudible) were three. All gone." JOS, NIGERIA (DECEMBER 25, 2011) (REUTERS) SECURITY FORCES IN AREA OF BOMB ATTACK VARIOUS OF DAMAGED VEHICLES PAIR OF SHOES ON GROUND (SOUNDBITE) (English) WITNESS, UNNAMED, SAYING: "We were holding service when we heard the gun shots, as a result of the gun shots we started running out and I jumped the fence. when I came out there was an explosion there and after that I came out to this place and there was another explosion here." SECURITY FORCES RUNNING VARIOUS OF BOMB ATTACK SUSPECT SURROUNDED BY SOLDIERS RECOVERED EXPLOSIVE DEVICES (SOUNDBITE) (English) MILITARY TASKFORCE SPOKESPERSON, CHARLES EZEOCHA, SAYING: "We lost one policemen and we have made four arrests. I think it is a headway and we can use them to get more information and then work on that." SIGN FOR CHURCH VARIOUS OF DAMAGE TO CHURCH BUILDING
  • Embargoed: 10th January 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Nigeria, Nigeria
  • Country: Nigeria
  • Topics: Crime
  • Reuters ID: LVA4ZN54MUENF1FWTR70FGJNAUH0
  • Story Text: A wave of bomb attacks on churches rocked Nigeria on Sunday (December 25), and at just one of the sites 27 people were killed.
    Islamist militant group Boko Haram, which wants to impose Islamic sharia law across the country, said it planted the bombs.
    St Theresa's Catholic Church in Madala, an Abuja satellite town about 40 km from the centre of the capital, was packed out when the powerful bomb exploded during a Christmas service.
    The large church's front roof had been destroyed in the blast, as had several houses near it.
    Five burnt out cars were still smouldering.
    "The teams are going to the hospital to get the exact figures. So we will update you as soon as we get the actual figure.
    There were scenes of chaos after the incident, with emergency services saying there weren't enough ambulances.
    Nigeria is split roughly equally between Christians and Muslims.
    Boko Haram - which is loosely modelled on the Taliban movement in Afghanistan -- has escalated its tactics this year and increased the sophistication of the explosives it uses.
    "Households, entire households gone. The two very close to the front in there - the first ones there - there were five people (in the family). And the people on the (inaudible) were three. All gone," a priest at the church, Father Patrich Achi, said.
    Hours after the first bomb, blasts were reported at the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Church in the central, ethnically and religiously mixed town of Jos.
    Witnesses said they also heard gun shots.
    "We were holding service when we heard the gun shots, as a result of the gun shots we started running out and I jumped the fence. When I came out there was an explosion there and after that I came out to this place and there was another explosion here," one unnamed witness said.
    Police found two other explosive devices in Jos, which they deactivated and arrested at least one man, who was still being held by police at the scene when the media arrived.
    Security officials said one policeman was killed.
    "We lost one policemen and we have made four arrests. I think it is a headway and we can use them to get more information and then work on that," military taskforce spokesperson Charles Ezeocha, said.
    Blasts were also reported at a church in northern Yobe state at the town of Gadaka, where residents said many were wounded.
    Residents of the northeastern city of Damaturu also reported two blasts but there were no details immediately available.
    In Abuja, thousands of furious youths have set up burning road blocks on the highway leading to Nigeria's largely Muslim north.
    Police and the military tried to disperse them by firing live rounds into the air with tear gas.
    Last Christmas Eve, a series of bomb blasts around Jos killed 32 people, and others people died in attacks on two churches in the northeast of Africa's most populous nation.
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