Another Country involve in a Religious War......Nigeria this time

Nigeria churches hit by blasts during Christmas prayers











The most casualties were caused in the attack near Abuja



Continue reading the main story Related Stories

• 'I heard a heavy sound'
  
• Why can't Nigeria defeat Boko Haram?
  
• Who are Nigeria's Boko Haram Islamists?
  

A
series of bomb attacks in Nigeria, including two on Christmas Day church
services, have left at least 32 people dead and many injured.

The Islamist group Boko Haram said it carried out the
attacks, including one on St Theresa's Church in Madalla, near the
capital Abuja, that killed 27.

A second explosion shortly after hit a church in the central city of Jos. A policeman died during gunfire.

Three attacks in northern Yobe state left four people dead.

Two hit the town of Damaturu, and a third struck Gadaka. Yobe
state has been the epicentre of violence between security forces and
Boko Haram militants.

'Everyone was crying'
Boko Haram - whose name means "Western education is forbidden" - often targets security forces and state institutions.


Continue reading the main story Analysis




Martin Plaut
BBC Africa editor




Boko Haram - which has admitted carrying out these attacks -
has been locked in an increasingly bloody struggle with the Nigerian
authorities since it was founded in 2002.

There were indications these attacks were being planned. In
the past week, bombs that were being prepared exploded prematurely in
Yobe and Kaduna states.

Then the police raided a suspected Boko Haram hideout in Yobe. Some 60 people were killed in the ensuing gunbattle.

Sunday's bomb attacks appear part of a planned offensive by the militants, who are calling for a strict Islamic state.




The group carried out an August 2011 suicide attack on the UN headquarters in Abuja, in which more than 20 people were killed.

Nearly 70 people have died this week in fighting between Nigerian forces and Boko Haram gunmen in the country's north-east.

National Emergency Management Agency (Nema) spokesman Yushau
Shuaibu told the BBC that the latest Abuja explosion had happened in the
street outside the church.

He said the church - which can hold up to 1,000 people - had
been badly affected by the blast, and the number of dead was likely to
rise.

Witnesses said windows of nearby houses had been shattered by the explosion.

Unconfirmed reports say that emergency responders have been attacked by groups of stone-throwing youths.

Officials at the local hospital said the condition of many of
the injured was serious, and they were seeking help from bigger medical
facilities.

Businessman Munir Nasidi was in a hotel opposite the church when the blast occurred.






He told the BBC: "When I came out of the hotel, people were
running around. Everyone was crying. They were bringing out casualties.
Nobody was getting near the building as there was a fire."

One of the Damaturu explosions was a suicide car bomb attack on a convoy of the State Security Service.

BBC correspondents say four people were killed there, including the suicide bomber.

In Jos, a blast close to the Mountain of Fire and Miracles
Church was followed by gunfire that left one officer dead, government
spokesman Pam Ayuba told Associated Press.

Two explosive devices found in a nearby building were disarmed as military were deployed to the site.

BBC Africa editor Martin Plaut says the attack in Jos, in
Plateau state, could have even more serious consequences than the attack
in Abuja.


Continue reading the main story Boko Haram: Timeline of terror

• 2002: Founded
  
• 2009: Hundreds killed when Maiduguri police stations stormed
  
• 2009: Boko Haram leader Mohammed Yusuf captured by army, handed to police, later found dead
  
• Sep 2010: Freed hundreds of prisoners from Maiduguri jail
  
• Dec 2010: Bombed Jos, killing 80; blamed for New Year's Eve attack on Abuja barracks
  
• 2010-2011: Dozens killed in Maiduguri shootings
  
• Nov 2011: Co-ordinated bomb and gun attacks in Yobe and Borno states
  
• Dec 2011: Series of bomb attacks on Christmas Day kills dozens
  

• In pictures: Nigeria church attacks
  
• Why can't Nigeria defeat Boko Haram?
  

The state lies in Nigeria's so-called Middle Belt, between the mainly Muslim north and Christian south.

More than 1,000 have been killed in religious and ethnic
violence in Jos over the past two years and our correspondent says there
will be fears that the latest attack could spark wider conflict.

A string of bomb blasts in Jos on Christmas Eve 2010 were claimed by Boko Haram.

Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi condemned the
latest attacks as blind, absurd "terrorist violence" that enflames hate.

"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," Lombardi was quoted by Reuters
news agency as saying.

UK Foreign Secretary William Hague also condemned the bombings.

He said: "These are cowardly attacks on families gathered in
peace and prayer to celebrate a day which symbolises harmony and
goodwill towards others. I offer my condolences to the bereaved and
injured."