14 dead as suicide car bomb hits church in Nigeria

PTI

ABUJA, 03 Jun 2012: In the latest deadly attack on Christians in Nigeria, at least 14 people were killed and many injured when a suicide car bomber detonated his explosives inside a church compound in the country’s north today, police said.

 

The blast occurred at the Living Faith church near the capital of Nigeria’s northern state of Bauchi, they said.

 

State police commissioner Mohammed Ladan said a police checkpoint has prevented the bomber from gaining access to his target.

 

"So he rammed the car into a security gate and the car exploded," said Ladan.

 

While a police source told PTI that security forces are still verifying the extent of damage. The source said the death toll from the blast could rise.

 

No group has claimed responsibility but the attack bears the signature of a radical Islamic militant sect - Boko Haram - which has been bombing churches and other public squares in the oil-rich African country with the intention of installing an Islamic state.

 

The group had targeted and killed several politicians and Muslim religious leaders in the northern region for not conforming to their aspiration.

 

On April 29, gunmen had killed at least 15 people in an attack on a university theatre being used by Christians in northern Nigeria’s biggest city, Kano.

 

Nigeria has 160 million people and is split between a largely Muslim north and Christian south.