Reprisal attacks that followed the bombing of churches on Saturday in Nigeria's northern state of Kaduna has caused a rise in number of deaths to 75 and injured to 120, hospital sources said.
Nigeria's dreaded Islamist militant group Boko Haram on Sunday claimed responsibility for three deadly attacks on churches, that led to reprisal killings, leaving at least 75 people dead and 120 others wounded.
Reprisal attacks that followed the bombing of churches on Saturday in Nigeria's northern state of Kaduna has caused a rise in number of deaths to 75 and injured to 120, hospital sources said.
A resident of the city, Blessing Audu told PTI that more than 30 bodies were dumped in a single cemetery located in Kaduna even as charred bodies littered the streets.
Some murdered persons were dumped inside deep wells by the angry Christian youths, she said, adding that one could see corpses along major streets of the city.
An emergency worker who opted to remain anonymous said the number of dead may be higher
According to him, in St Gerald Hospital alone, more than 40 bodies were kept at the morgue even as 70 others were being treated for wounds.
People besieged the hospitals today in search of their missing relations.
At the Barau Dikko Memorial Hospital, sources said 12 deaths were recorded with 2 others receiving treatment.
At the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital (ABUTH) Zaria, an official of the Kaduna State Emergency Management Agency who on condition of anonymity said the death toll has gone up from 18 to 23.
Radical Boko Haram sect claimed responsibility for the attack by suicide bombers on the churches located in cities of Kaduna and Zaria stating that their objective is to revenge for past killings of Muslims and desecration of holy places.
"Today Almighty Allah has given us victory against Christian Churches in Kaduna and Zaria which led to the deaths of many Christians and security operatives," the spokesman for the group, Abu Qaqa said threatening more attacks.
At least 10 people died and more than 50 were injured in that attack, the state government official said.
Again, the Nigerian Red Cross Society offered a conflicting report, saying 16 people died and 31 were injured in the attack.
Later, at least 10 people died in a bombing at a church in the city of Kaduna, Red Cross spokesman Andronicus Adeyemo said.
The Red Cross said 32 people died and 78 were injured in the third blast and ensuing reprisal attacks by Christians on Muslims. The Kaduna state government imposed a 24-hour curfew as military forces patrolled the streets in an effort to control retaliatory violence, the Vanguard reported.
The bombings are the latest in a string of violence directed at Nigerian churches.
A week ago, a car bomb killed five people during services at a church in Jos, also in northern Nigeria.
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