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Eight killed in suicide car bomb at church in Nigeria

Two more people died in revenge attacks, including one man who was burned alive when a crowd from the church went on the rampage.

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A suicide attacker drove a jeep packed with explosives into Catholic church in Nigeria during morning Mass on Sunday, killing at least eight people and wounding another 100.

Two more people died in revenge attacks, including one man who was burned alive when a crowd from the church went on the rampage.

There were no immediate claims of responsibility for the strike, in Kaduna city, but Boko Haram, Nigeria's Islamist militants, were suspected.

The group, which is fighting for strict Sharia law to be imposed in the north, carried out a similar attack on three churches in Kaduna in June.

The bomber drove his vehicle to the gates of St Rita's Church in the city, 140 miles north of the capital, Abuja, and detonated his explosives when guards refused him entry.

Christopher Oyebanji, a Kaduna businessman, said the church building was badly damaged in the attack. "There was a huge explosion from outside, I was near the door and I managed to escape, but the walls and the roof nearest the bomber fell down straight away," he said.

"I saw two people who were killed being carried out of the church. There were so many other people who were injured, with blood pouring from their wounds. It was so terrible."

Doctors said at least 98 people were being treated at hospitals in the city, which lies on the line between Nigeria's majority Christian south and its majority Muslim north.

A spokesman for Kaduna's governor, Patrick Yakowa, called for calm as police erected roadblocks and cordoned off the area around the church. People were warned to stay indoors.

But Christians angered at the attack marched in the streets. One motorcycle taxi driver, a Muslim, was pulled off his bike, doused in petrol and set on fire. He died before paramedics could reach him, because the crowd blocked their path.

The attack, which took place as Muslims were celebrating the last day of the Eid al-Adha holiday, was the latest in a long string of strikes against Christians across the country's north.

 

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