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At least 35 people killed in explosion in Catholic church in Abuja suburb, while a second explosion rocked a church in Jos
A militant Islamist group has claimed responsibility for a series of co-ordinated attacks on Christmas Day services at churches in Nigeria, one of which killed at least 35 people.
The first and deadliest attack occurred near a Catholic church in Madala on the outskirts of the capital, Abuja, during morning prayers.
Hours after the first bomb, blasts were reported at the Mountain of Fire and Miracles church in the central, ethnically and religiously mixed town of Jos, and at a church in northern Yobe state in the town of Gadaka. A government spokesman said a police officer had been killed by gunmen in Jos, while many were said to be wounded in Gadaka.
Police found two other explosive devices in Jos, which they deactivated, and arrested one man. Residents of the north-eastern city of Damaturu also reported two blasts but there were no details immediately available.
Boko Haram claimed responsibility for the attacks. The group – whose name in the Hausa language of northern Nigeria means "western education is sinful" – is loosely modelled on the Taliban movement in Afghanistan. It wants to impose Islamic sharia law across the country, which is split roughly equally between Christians and Muslims.
The president, Goodluck Jonathan, a Christian from the south who is struggling to contain the threat of Islamist militancy, called the incident "unfortunate" but said Boko Haram would "not be [around] for ever. It will end one day."
The Vatican condemned the explosion at St Theresa's church in Madala as senseless violence.
"We are close to the suffering of the Nigerian church and the entire Nigerian people so tried by terrorist violence, even in these days that should be of joy and peace," said a Vaticanspokesman, Father Federico Lombardi.He called the attack "another manifestation of blind and absurd violence which has no respect for human life and seeks to enflame more hate and confusion".
The blast in Madala blew out the windows of at least one house and destroyed cars.
"We were in the church with my family when we heard the explosion. I just ran out. Now I don't even know where my children or my wife are," said a witness, Timothy Onyekwere. "I don't know how many were killed but there were many dead."
The freelance journalist Alkasim Abdulkadir, who was at the scene just after the blast – suspected to be caused by a car bomb – said that he had seen a car filled with the bodies of a dead family who had perished together in the blast.
"There was a car filled with dead bodies. Apparently it was a family coming to worship in the church," he said.
After the explosions Abdulkadir said there was a protest to try to stop the bodies being taken away. "The crowd insisted that they wanted the president to come before the bodies could be evacuated. This led to the police shooting in the air and releasing canisters of teargas," he said.
Emergency services said they did not have enough ambulances available to take away all the dead and the wounded.
"We are presently there, evacuating the dead and the injured, but unfortunately we don't have enough ambulances. Most of our ambulances have gone to operate on the major highways of the country," said Nema spokesman Yushau Shuaibu.
Boko Haram has been blamed for dozens of bomb attacks and shootings in the north, and has claimed responsibility for two bombings in Abuja this year, including Nigeria's first suicide bombing, which killed 23 people at the UN headquarters in August that killed at least 23 people.
It claimed attacks on two churches in Nigeria last Christmas Eve that killed 32 people.
In recent days gun battles between security forces and Boko Haram in northern Nigeria have killed at least 68 peoplein two days of fighting in northern Nigeria, authorities and hospital sources say.Boko Haram – which in the Hausa language spoken in northern Nigeria means "western education is sinful" – is loosely modelled on the Taliban movement in Afghanistan.
Rights groups say more than 250 people have been killed by Boko Haram since July 2010. The attack on the UN building in Abuja was the first known suicide bombing in Nigeria. It marked an escalation in the group's tactics and revealed an increase in the sophistication of explosives it uses.