adminA series of bombings by Islamist militants across Nigeria on Christmas Day killed over two dozen people, raising fears that they are trying to provoke a sectarian civil war.
The attacks included a bombing at a church in the Plateau state capital of Jos which killed no one, although a policeman died in a subsequent shootout with militants.
“This attack is regrettable coming at a time when the state government has put measures for security in place,” state government spokesperson Abraham Yiljap told local broadcaster Plateau Radio Television. He gave no further details.
There was no suggestion the killings had any link to Sunday’s church bombings. The radio station said the victims were Christians from the local Berom tribe and the attackers suspected to be Fulani herdsman, who are normally Muslims.
Northern Nigerian Christians said on Tuesday they feared that the Christmas Day bombings could lead to a religious war in Africa’s most populous country.
However, so far there has been no violent backlash from Christian communities.
The Boko Haram Islamist sect, which aims to impose sharia Islamic law across Nigeria, claimed responsibility for the blasts, the second Christmas in a row it has caused carnage.
The most deadly attack killed at least 27 people in the St Theresa Catholic church in Madalla, a town on the edge of the capital Abuja, and devastated surrounding buildings and cars as faithful poured out of the church after Christmas mass. — AFP.
Online Reporter
Londile Moyo