Will the Islamophobia never end? “Bombing on Nigerian church leaves 11 dead,” from AGI, November 25 (thanks to C. Cantoni):
(AGI) Kaduna, Nov. 25 – Yet another bloody Sunday for the Christians in northern Nigeria, with 11 people killed in a bombing on a church near Kaduna and three more killed in an ambush as they were going to mass in Kano. Once again, the group likely to be behind the attacks is al Qaeda-linked Boko Haram, which carried out several other attacks in this region.
In Jaji, 30 km from Kaduna, two suicide bombings struck the protestant church of St Andrew’s, inside the barracks. Shortly after mass, one suicide bomber drove a minibus, loaded with explosives, against the church. About ten minutes later, when a group of soldiers and civilians had gathered on the spot, another terrorist detonated a car bomb, which left 11 killed and about 30 injured. Most of the victims were members of the Church choir. It is not clear how the bombers managed to enter the barracks, considering the massive measures taken to prevent Boko Haram attacks.
In the Muslim-majority state of Kaduna, several attacks on churches have been attributed to the Islamic fundamentalist group. In October, a suicide bombing left eight dead and about 100 wounded in another region of the state. In the outskirts of Kano, two men on a motorbike opened fire on a car with a Christian couple and their child on board, as they were going to mass. The woman and the child were killed immediately, while the man died in hospital. The couple’s other child, in the car too, was unharmed. Motorbike assaults are frequently used by Boko Haram. The suspicion that Boko Haram is behind these attacks is based on the fact that they came the day after the Nigerian government announced it would offer rewards – for a total of $1.7 mn – to whoever will provide useful information for capturing the 19 leaders of the terrorist group. The list features the main leader, Abubakar Shekau, the reward for him being $250,000; the reward for those who will help the local authorities arrest Shekau’s four main aides (Habibu Yusuk, Khalis Albarnawai, Momodu Bama e Mohammed Zangin) is $125,000. . .