A suicide bomber
has driven a vehicle packed with explosives into a Catholic church in northern
Nigeria, killing at least eight people and wounding more than 100, triggering
reprisal attacks that have killed at least two more, according to officials.
The attack
happened in the Malali neighbourhood of Kaduna, a city on the dividing line
between Nigeria's largely Christian south and mainly Muslim north, where
religious rioting has killed hundreds in recent years.
The car tried to
force its way past the gate at St Rita's Catholic church just before it
exploded, witnesses at the church said.
Yushau Shuaib, a
spokesman for Nigeria's National Emergency Management Agency, said ambulances
were taking the injured to hospital.
He said it was not
immediately clear how many had been injured.
" We know
there is a rescue mission taking place with ambulances taking people to
hospital."
"No claims of
responsibility has taken place, we are waiting for the police and military to
comment on their take, however many would feel that Boko Haram are behind the
attack.
Armed with knives
Following the
blast, soldiers and police surrounded the church in Kaduna, a city which has
seen several other attacks on churches in recent months.
Shortly after the
blast, angry Christian youths took to the streets armed with sticks and knives.
"We killed
them and we'll do more," shouted a youth, with blood on his shirt, before
police chased him and his cohorts away.
Daniel Kazah, a
member of the Catholic cadets in the church, said he had seen three bodies on
the bloodied church floor after the bomb. "But still others were taken to
the mortuary," he said.
A Reuters news
agency reporter also saw two bodies lying at the roadside.
An emergency
worker on the scene, who had helped move casualties but was not authorised to
give his name, estimated the total number of dead and wounded at around 30.
There was no
immediate claim of responsibility for Sunday's blast.
In June the armed
group Boko Haram attacked three churches in the state of Kaduna, including one
in the city. At least 50 people were killed in the bombings and the reprisals
that followed.
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