Explosion detonated by suicide bomber on busy road blows windows out of nearby hotels and homes
A suicide car bomber killed at least 38 people on Sunday morning on a busy road in the Nigerian city of Kaduna, after apparently turning away from churches holding Easter services.
The blast left charred motorcycles and debris strewn across a major road, where many gather to eat at informal restaurants and buy black-market petrol.
Nearby hotels and homes had their windows blown out and roofs torn away by the force of the explosion.
Two churches were badly damaged as churchgoers worshipped at an Easter service, the possible target of the bomber. Witnesses said it appeared that the car attempted to enter the compound of the churches, but was blocked by barriers in the street and turned away by a security guard.
"We were in the holy communion service and I was exhorting my people and all of a sudden, we heard a loud noise that shattered all our windows and doors, destroyed our fans and some of our equipment in the church," Pastor Joshua Raji said.
While no one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, suspicion fell on Boko Haram, the radical Islamist sect blamed for hundreds of killings in the country this year alone. Some fear the attack could further inflame tensions around Kaduna, a region on the dividing line between Nigeria's largely Christian south and Muslim north.
Churches have been increasingly targeted by violence on holy days in Nigeria, a nation of more than 160 million people of Christians and Muslims. A Christmas Day suicide bombing in Madalla near Nigeria's capital killed at least 44 people.
Police and soldiers quickly cordoned off the blast site, though citizens looked on at the flames and damage.
Boko Haram is waging an increasingly bloody fight against security agencies and the public. More than 380 people have been killed in violence blamed on the sect this year alone, according to an Associated Press count.
The group has attacked both Christians and Muslims, as well as the United Nations' headquarters in Nigeria, while rejecting efforts to begin indirect peace talks with Nigeria's government.
The near-daily attacks by the sect – and Nigeria's weak central government's inability to thwart them, despite public promises – have sparked anger and fear about the group's reach. The United Kingdom and the United States warned its citizens living in the country that violence was likely over the Easter holiday. Nigeria's government dismissed the warning, with local newspapers quoting presidential spokesman Reuben Abati as saying: "Easter will be peaceful for all."
Britain's Africa minister, Henry Bellingham, condemned the attack, calling it a "horrific act".