By BosNewsLife Africa Service
BAUCHI, NIGERIA (BosNewsLife)– The militant Islamist group Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing that killed at least 15 people at an evangelical church in northern Nigeria.
In a statement e-mailed to journalists Monday, June 4, group spokesman Abul Qaqa said Boko Haram had “successfully launched” the attack. “We thank Allah for giving us victory. We successfully carried out a suicide bombing on a church at Yelwa in Bauchi state,” he said.
The email address was the same the militants always use, but reporters cautioned there was no way to confirm its authenticity.
A suicide bomber drove a car packed with explosives into the church Sunday, causing the building to collapse and trapping worshipers inside, witnesses said.
The bombing reportedly occurred just as the congregation of Living Faith Church in the Yelwa Tudu area of Bauchi city was leaving a worship service. However, the casualties came primarily from the neighboring church, Harvest Field Church for Christ, which bore the brunt of the explosion, according to Christian rights group Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW).
MANY INJURED
Over 40 people were injured in addition to those killed.
Twelve cars and a number of buildings were also reported to have been destroyed by the blast.
Boko Haram has increasingly focused some of its energies on Christian worshipers, including a Christmas Day bomb just outside the capital that killed 37 people and wounded 57.
Three other bombers carrying explosives were reportedly intercepted on their way to the Church of Christ in Nigeria (COCIN) and Catholic churches in Yelwa Tudu, but were killed by angry crowds that gathered there, rights activists said.
Analysts say the group wants to create divisions between Muslims and Christians in this nation of 160 million people, though there were no reports of massive reprisals yet.
MEN MURDERED
Additionally, reports emerged on Saturday, June 2, of a night attack by armed Fulani tribesmen on Sansun Village in Zangon Kataf Local Government Area (LGA), Southern Kaduna State, in which a man named Matthew Aetung and his son were hacked to death, his wife was critically injured, and his home was razed to the ground, CSW said.
Boko Haram’s also warned media they would be attacked if they write “anything false” about Boko Haram, which means ‘Western Education is a Sin’.
The group also claimed the bombing of pro-government daily This Day in April.
Qaqa accused Nigeria’s security agencies of concealing casualties in their battles with the militant group. The militants are blamed for hundreds of killings in Nigeria since 2009, mostly in the north, where they have ordered Christians to leave the area.
The group says it wants to establish an Islamic state in northern Nigeria and does not recognize the government or the country’s constitution.
TERROR ATTACKS
“Once again we have witnessed terror attacks on innocent civilians who were peaceably expressing their faith, while a family was murdered in their home by armed assailants,” said CSW Chief Executive Mervyn Thomas told BosNewsLife in a statement.
He said his group “reiterates the call for a decisive, intelligence-led strategy to combat the insurgency, and for comprehensive protection of areas that are known to be under threat of ethnic-religious violence.”
The group also claimed the bombing of pro-government daily This Day in April.
Qaqa accused Nigeria’s security agencies of concealing casualties in their battles with the militant group. The militants are blamed for hundreds of killings in Nigeria since 2009, mostly in the north, where they have ordered Christians to leave the area.
The group says it wants to establish an Islamic state in northern Nigeria and does not recognize the government or the country’s constitution.”Once again we have witnessed terror attacks on innocent civilians who were peaceably expressing their faith, while a family was murdered in their home by armed assailants,” said CSW Chief Executive Mervyn Thomas told BosNewsLife in a statement.
He said his group “reiterates the call for a decisive, intelligence-led strategy to combat the insurgency, and for comprehensive protection of areas that are known to be under threat of ethnic-religious violence.”
I am sure that no Muslim would claim killing innocent people in the name of JIHAD.let the security agencies trace the emai and conferm wether it comes from BOKO HARAM or not.
If we can remember how many non muslims had been arrested triying to attack churches in the country but non of them brought to court for trial, let us respect each other and stop blaming Muslims but blame our goverment and security agencies for not providing security to the country.
Wot dis people want is very simple and direct,they want their states 2 be islamic states wit no regards 2 constitution dat bind us 2geda as a nation,dis simply portrays secession and i tink its hightime d govt realise d degree of incompatibility of d North wit d rest of d regions.
Islam demands the World worship Allah and His prophet Muhammed. Anyone and anything that stands in its way will be killed for its unbelief. Simple and without doubt.
(BosNewsLife strongly disagrees with below comment that Muslims are worse than animals; yet the comment below underscores the tensions created by extremists and how their actions cause communities on both sides to suffer.)
Muslims=Animals.I take that back….animals are generally good.Cannot say that about anything to do with Islam(spit be upon him).
Nigeria does no need “a decisive, intelligence-led strategy” just send the troops in and wipe them out