KADUNA, Nigeria, (Reuters) – A car bomb killed at least 16 people and wounded dozens more in the northern Nigerian town of Kaduna on Easter Sunday, after security officers stopped the vehicle carrying it from approaching a church, witnesses and police said.
There was also an explosion around 200 km (125 miles) southeast in the central town of Jos on Sunday evening, the national emergency management agency said. A military spokesman said it was a “minor explosion” and nobody was killed.
No group claimed responsibility for the Kaduna attack, but the apparent targeting of a Christian place of worship will stir memories of a string of deadly assaults by Islamist militants Boko Haram on Christmas Day last year.
A spokesman for the Kaduna state emergency management agency said 16 people had so far been confirmed dead, while 35 more were critically injured and receiving treatment in hospitals.
Kaduna police commissioner, Mohammad Jinjiri Abubakar, said police were pursuing a suspect vehicle when it crashed into another car and caused a massive explosion.
Abubakar did not say whether they knew who was behind the attack or what the bomb was intended for. Local residents said the bomber had tried to approach a church with his vehicle but was turned back at a police roadblock and then pursued.
“A suicide bomber in a vehicle was moving towards the ECWA Church and the All Nations Christian Assembly,” said Tony Udo, a Kaduna resident.
“Security agents accosted and repelled him. While he was driving away, the bomb went off at Junction Road, near the Stadium roundabout, killing the bomber and some commercial motorcyclists,” Udo told Reuters. He said the blast shattered windows in the church and nearby houses and vehicles.
ISLAMIST INSURGENCY
Britain and the United States last week warned their citizens living in Africa’s biggest oil producer that violence was likely during the Easter period. Nigeria has ramped up security across the Muslim north.
Nigeria’s population of more than 160 million is split roughly equally between a largely Christian south and a mostly Muslim north. Kaduna sits close to the dividing line and was the nucleus of post-election violence last year which killed about 800 people.
