A suicide bomber drove a car full of explosives into a church in northern Nigeria yesterday, killing 12 people in the latest deadly attack on Christian worshippers, witnesses said.
Security forces at a road-block nearby said the bomber forced the car through the checkpoint and drove into the church in Yelwa, on the outskirts of the city of Bauchi. A Reuters reporter at the scene counted 12 bodies being pulled from the building. “I had just left after the morning service and was out of the church when I heard a loud explosion. I rushed back and there were dozens of people lying in pools of blood,” said Aliku Jon, a mechanic. “Many were injured including two police officers.”
It was not clear who was responsible for the attack, although churches have been targeted this year by militant Islamist group Boko Haram, which has been making increasing use of suicide bombers. The group, which wants to reinstate an Islamic caliphate in northern Nigeria with stricter sharia law, has been blamed for hundreds of killings over the past two years. – (Reuters)