Curfew clamped after Nigerian religious violence kills nearly 40
A strict curfew has been imposed in a northern Nigerian state to stop violence from spiraling out of control as situation continues to be tense, a day after suicide car bombers attacked three churches, triggering retaliatory strikes by Christians that left nearly 40 people dead.
Officials said at least 19 people died and dozens were injured in the blasts and some 20 more people were killed in the rioting targeting Muslims.
An indefinite curfew has been clamped as soldiers and police were trying to restore order.
Officials said a church was targeted in the state capital Kaduna, as blasts also ripped through two churches 30 km away in the city of Zaria in coordinated bomb attacks.
Thirteen people were killed when a suicide bomber tried to drive through a barricade at the entrance of the Christ The King Catholic Church in the Gari district of Zaria.
"If they (bombers) had succeeded in entering, only god knows what would have happened. I probably wouldn't be alive," George Dodo, the reverend of church told Radio France Internationale (RFI).
Soon after the attacks , Christian youths began hunting down Muslims in retaliatory attacks, RFI said quoting witnesses.
Red Cross officials told the AFP that more than 20 bodies had been recovered after rioting, most "burned beyond recognition", and witnesses reported that Christian youths at a roadblock south of Kaduna were pulling Muslims out of cars and killing them.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombings, but RFI said Islamist group Boko Haram has often attacked churches in Nigeria split between Christians and Muslims.
Last Sunday, militants attacked two churches in Nigeria, spraying the congregation of one of them with bullets, killing at least one person, and blowing up a car in a suicide bombing at the other, wounding 41. Boko Haram claimed responsibility.
The inter-religious violence raised fears of wider sectarian conflict in Nigeria, an OPEC member and Africa's top oil producer.
The Christian Association of Kano, northern Nigeria's main city said the bombings were "a clear invitation to religious war."
According to the BBC, Boko Haram says it wants Islamic sharia law in place across Nigeria and is trying to trigger clashes between Christians and Muslims.
Last weekend an archbishop in central Nigeria appealed to Christians not to retaliate when churches were attacked.
Source: The Africa News.Net
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