Kano: At least 38 people were killed and several others injured when a suicide car bomber detonated his explosives Sunday morning on a busy road after apparently turning away from attacking Nigerian churches holding Easter services, media reported on Sunday.
According to reports the blast struck Kaduna, the capital of Kaduna state, leaving charred motorcycles and debris strewn across a major road in the city where many gather to eat at informal restaurants and buy black market gasoline.
The powerful explosion engulfed a group of motorcycle taxi drivers and blew out windows and tore off roofs at nearby hotels and homes. It badly damaged the nearby All Nations Christian Assembly Church and the ECWA Good News Church as churchgoers worshipped at an Easter service, the possible target of the bomber.
Witnesses said it appeared the explosive-laden car attempted to go into the compound of the churches before it detonated, but was blocked by barriers in the street and was turned away by a security guard as police approached.
While no one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, suspicion immediately fell on a radical Islamist sect Boko Haram
And 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, most of whom are Muslims or Christians. A Christmas Day suicide bombing in Madalla near Nigeria’s capital killed at least 44 people.
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