The Daily Mail
By Gavin Allen
Last updated at 2:54 PM on 25th December 2011
An explosion ripped through a Catholic church during Christmas Mass near Nigeria’s capital Sunday, killing at least 27 people.
A second explosion later went off near another church in the city of Jos, raising fears that a radical Muslim sect was continuing its campaign of sectarian violence.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blasts, but the explosions come amid a wave of attacks in Nigeria by Boko Haram, which has been blamed for at least 465 killings this year alone.
Death toll: At least 27 people have been killed in Abuja, Nigeria, after a bomb went off outside a church on Christmas Day
Extremist group: This is a still image taken from a video showing members of the Nigerian Islamist sect Boko Haram, which is suspected of being behind the attrocity
Last year a series of Christmas Eve bombings in Jos that were claimed by the militants left at least 32 dead and 74 wounded.
The first explosion on Sunday struck St. Theresa Catholic Church in Madalla, a town in Niger state close to the capital, Abuja, authorities said.
Rescue workers recovered at least 25 bodies from the church and officials continued to tally those wounded in various hospitals, said Slaku Luguard, a coordinator with Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).
His agency already has acknowledged it didn’t have enough ambulances immediately on hand to help the wounded. Luguard also said an angry crowd gathered at the blast site hampered rescue efforts as they refused to allow workers inside.
‘We’re trying to calm the situation,’ said Luguard.
‘There are some angry people around trying to cause problems.’
The explosion happened in a suburb of Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city
Violence expected: The U.S. Embassy in Abuja issued a public warning on Friday to be ‘particularly vigilant’ around churches, large crowds and areas where foreigners congregate
In Jos, a second explosion struck near a Mountain of Fire and Miracles Church, government spokesman Pam Ayuba said.
Ayuba said gunmen later opened fire on police guarding the area, wounding one police officer.
Two other locally made explosives were found in a nearby building and disarmed, he said.
‘The military are here on ground and have taken control over the entire place,’ said Ayuba.
The city of Jos is located on the dividing line between Nigeria’s predominantly Christian south and Muslim north. Thousands have died in communal clashes there over the last decade.
The U.S. Embassy in Nigeria’s capital of Abuja had issued a warning Friday to citizens to be ‘particularly vigilant’ around churches, large crowds and areas where foreigners congregate.
Sectarian violence: Boko Harem carried out similar attacks last Christmas as part of its campaign to implement strict Shariah law across Nigeria
Several days of fighting in the northeast between the sect and security forces already had killed at least 61 people, authorities said.
In the last year, Boko Haram has carried out increasingly bloody attacks in its campaign to implement strict Shariah law across Nigeria, a nation of more than 160 million people.
Boko Haram claimed responsibility for a November 4 attack on Damaturu, Yobe state’s capital, that killed more than 100 people.
The group also claimed the August 24 suicide car bombing of the U.N. headquarters in Nigeria’s capital that killed 24 people and wounded 116 others.
While initially targeting enemies via hit-and-run assassinations from the back of motorbikes, violence by Boko Haram now has a new sophistication and apparent planning that includes high-profile attacks with greater casualties.
Boko Haram has splintered into three factions, with one wing increasingly willing to kill as it maintains contact with terror groups in North Africa and Somalia, diplomats and security sources say.
Boko Haram – which in the Hausa language spoken in northern Nigeria means ‘Western education is sinful’ – is loosely modelled on the Taliban movement in Afghanistan.
