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“I think it will be fair to say dozens of people lost their lives in these orgies of violence, while scores that were injured were taken to hospitals,” National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) spokesman Yushau Shuaib said.
The bombs rocked five churches in the neighbouring cities of Zaria and Kaduna and in the southern towns of Nassarawa and Barnawa in Kaduna state. Kaduna state authorities immediately imposed a 24-hour curfew.
At least 10 people were killed in retaliatory rioting when Muslims were targeted by Christian youths angered by the attacks.
An AFP reporter said he saw 10 bodies being taken to mortuaries after street clashes. A military officer who declined to be named put the number of people killed in the rioting at 16. Witnesses said dozens of people were killed in the church bombings.
“I counted 12 bodies at the Christ the King Catholic Church and three at ECWA Church in Zaria,” a local reporter with the state-run Radio Nigeria said.
He said around 70 people were injured in the bomb blasts in the city. The attacks were the latest targetting churches in Africa’s most populous country, whose 160 million population is almost evenly divided by Christians and Muslims.
No group has claimed responsibility for yesterday’s incidents. The Islamist Boko Haram group has been blamed for scores of deadly attacks in the country in recent months.
Police and the military cordoned off the areas. Residents in the areas surrounding the churches said several people were injured in the attacks on the Christ the King Catholic Cathedral and ECWA GoodNews Church.
Several residents in Sabongari said the church was badly damaged by the blast.
“I went close to the church but could not access it due to heavy police and military security deployed around it,” resident Mahmud Hamza said.
“From where I stood I could see a badly destroyed church still burning from the explosion. It is obvious there were deaths from the scale of the damage and the fire,” he added.
Another resident spoke of bodies being taken out. Officials later said a third bomb attack targeted a church in Kaduna, but there were no immediate reports of casualties.
NEMA officials said the third attack hit the Sharon Church in Kaduna city and that there were two other bombings in the Christian-dominated towns in the south of the state.
“There were two simultaneous bomb attacks on churches in Nassarawa and Barnawa in the south of Kaduna this morning. We are yet to get information on casualties,” Kaduna spokesman for NEMA, Aliyu Mohammed said.
Southern Kaduna is some four kilometres from Kaduna city and about two hours by car from Zaria.
Residents said the two other bomb blasts in the south of the state triggered street protests by Christian youths.
They said mobs barricaded roads in the towns of Trijania, Gonin Gora and Sabon Tasha, attacking motorists who looked Muslim. A man said he had to scrap a trip to the national capital Abuja.
“I cancelled my trip to Abuja because of the huge number of rioters that have taken over the roads,” he said.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks, the latest in Africa’s most populous nation and largest oil producer, with many of the previous attacks also claimed by Boko Haram, whose insurgency has killed more than 1 000 people since mid-2009. — AFP.
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