Attack on Nigeria church services kills about 20

A view of the gate of Bayero
University in northern Nigerian
city of Kano where Christian
worshippers were killed and
others seriously injured in
shootings and bomb attacks on
two church services. © AFP
Aminu Abubakar
KANO, Nigeria, Apr 30 –
Attackers with bombs and guns
opened fire at church services
at a Nigerian university on
Sunday, killing around 20 people
as worshippers tried to flee,
witnesses and officials said.
Explosions and gunfire rocked
Bayero University in the
northern city of Kano, and
witnesses said they targeted
two campus church services —
one outdoors, the other in a
building but with the crowd
spilling outside.
There was no immediate claim
of responsibility, although the
attack was similar to others
carried out by the Islamist
militant group Boko Haram
which has targeted Christian
church services.
The military, which regularly
downplays casualty figures in
attacks, put the death toll at
seven.
However, an AFP correspondent
counted six bullet-riddled
bodies near one site, and at
least another dozen bodies
could be seen on a roadside by
the university, although the
exact number was unclear.
An emergency services official
said 22 people were being
treated, mainly for gunshot
wounds.
Witnesses said the attackers
arrived in a car and on two
motorcycles, then opened fire
and threw homemade bombs,
causing panic. They said
worshippers were gunned down
as they tried to flee.
“They first attacked the open-
air service outside the faculty
of medicine,” one witness said.
“They threw in explosives and
fired shots, causing a stampede
among worshippers. They now
pursued them, shooting them
with guns… They also attacked
another service at the sporting
complex.”
A witness, who said he was at
the sporting complex, reported
hearing gunshots outside while
they were praying.
“Then there was
pandemonium,” he said,
recounting how he saw two
men outside shooting
indiscriminately.
A crowd of people later
gathered at a Kano hospital
waiting to hear news about
friends or family.
The Vatican condemned what it
called “terrorist” attacks on
Christians in Kenya and Nigeria
and called for restraint to
prevent a cycle of violence.
In the Kenyan capital Nairobi, a
man on Sunday set off a
grenade during a church
service, killing one worshipper
and also sowing chaos.
In another attack against
Christians, in the northeastern
Nigerian city of Maiduguri, four
people were shot dead as they
were leaving a church on
Sunday, a Christian
organisation said.
One of the victims was believed
to be a pastor at the Church
of Christ in Nigeria, said Mark
Lipdo of the Stefanos
Foundation which monitors
violence against Christians in
Nigeria. Authorities could not be
reached for comment.
In recent months a wave of
violence has convulsed Nigeria,
Africa’s most populous nation
and largest oil producer, which
is roughly divided between a
mainly Muslim north and a
predominantly Christian south.
Boko Haram’s increasingly
bloody insurgency has claimed
more than 1,000 lives since
mid-2009. Police and soldiers
have often been the victims,
but Christian worshippers have
also been targeted.
Boko Haram claimed attacks on
January 20 in Kano, the largest
city in the north, when
coordinated bombings and
shootings left at least 185
people dead, the highest toll so
far.
On Thursday, bomb attacks at
the offices of the ThisDay
newspaper in the capital Abuja
and the northern city of
Kaduna left at least nine people
dead.
The group has previously
targeted churches, including on
Christmas Day when at least 44
people were killed in a bombing
at a church outside Abuja.
A bombing on Easter Sunday
near a church in Kaduna killed
at least 41 people, but Boko
Haram is not known to have
claimed it.
The group also claimed
responsibility for a suicide
attack at UN headquarters in
Abuja which killed at least 25
people last August.
Boko Haram initially claimed to
be fighting for the creation of
an Islamic state in Nigeria’s
north, but its demands and
structure have become less
clear in recent months.
It is believed to have a number
of factions, some with political
motives, as well as a hardcore
Islamist wing. Criminal groups
are also believed to have
carried out violence under the
guise of Boko Haram.
An attempt at indirect dialogue
between the group and the
government in March collapsed,
with a mediator quitting over
media leaks and a spokesman
for the Islamists saying they
could not trust the
government.
President Goodluck Jonathan,
during a visit Saturday to the
newspaper offices in Abuja hit
by Thursday’s suicide attack,
did not answer directly when
asked whether dialogue was
necessary to stop the violence.
“You may dialogue, you may
not dialogue, depending on the
circumstances,” Jonathan told
reporters.
“But we will exploit every
means possible to bring this to
an end.”

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