A suicide bomber who tried to drive an explosives-packed car into a church in northern Nigeria yesterday killed 15 people and injured 40, the emergency service in Bauchi State said.
Some of those who tried to flee out of fright fell into the fire
Following the bomb blast in Bauchi city, “the emergency operation team rushed to the scene for the rescue operation.
The team evacuated the victims; 40 people were injured while 15 were dead,” the State Emergency Management Agency said in a statement in Lagos.
The statement further said the wounded were being treated at an area hospital and that police had cordoned off the blast site.
No one has claimed the attack, but Islamist group Boko Haram, responsible for more than 1,000 deaths since July 2009, have previously targeted Christians and churches, typically on days of worship or celebration.
“We have a checkpoint notfar from the church whichprevented the bomber fromgaining access to his target,”said state police commissioner Mohammed Ladan.
“So he rammed the car into a security gate and the car exploded... ,” he added.
Witnesses said the force ofthe blast near the Harvest Field of Christ Church on the outskirts of Bauchi city caused thebuilding to collapse on theworshippers inside.
Residents said that whenthe building collapsed, some worshippers fled outside seeking refuge, but ran into araging fire.
“There was confusion as residents and churchgoers triedto flee. Some of them out of fright fell into the fire caused bythe explosion,” said residentTimothy Joshua.
Another witness, who requested anonymity, said the bomber had an accomplice who tried to escape the scene after the blast went off, but was chased down and killed by enraged residents. Police could not confirm this account.
“The other bomber abandoned the car they came with and wanted to flee, but he was pursued by a resident and worshippers and beaten to death,” this witness said.
Boko Haram has claimed a number of attacks in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous state and largest oil producer. The group’s most daring raid in Bauchi came in September 2010 when it claimed a jailbreak that freed more than 700 inmates, including 100 Boko Haram members.
The Islamists have alsorepeatedly targeted Jos, in neighbouring Plateau State, the siteof some of Nigeria’s worstsectarian violence.
Boko Haram is believed to have a number of different cells, some with ties to foreign extremist organisations like Al-Qaeda’s north Africa branch, which has reportedly provided weapons training in northern Mali.
Other cells are thought to have a more domestic focus, but frustration has mounted as the group’s attacks have grown more sophisticated, covering a wider area of territory.
Political and civil leaders in Nigeria’s mainly Muslim north have spoken out over the government’s apparent inability to contain the Islamist threat.
President Goodluck Jonathan, from Nigeria’s majority Christian south, has encouraged Boko Haram to enter talks, but an attempt to negotiate launched earlier this year quickly fizzled.