Militants attack two churches in Nigeria

Militants attacked two churches in Nigeria yesterday, 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.

No one was killed by the car bombing in the central city of Jos, but mobs of youths attacked bystanders in retaliation, killing two, police said.

There was no claim of responsibility. Attacks on churches have become a trademark tactic of Islamist group Boko Haram, which says it is fighting to reinstate an ancient Islamic caliphate in northern Nigeria.

Hamidu Wakawa was at the church in Biu Town in north-eastern Borno state when it was attacked. “Three gunmen came to the premises of the church and started firing at people outside the church before going into the main building to carry on their killings,” he said.

“Many people have been killed and wounded.”

The police spokesman for Borno state, Samuel Tizhe, said five gunmen attacked the church, killing one woman and wounding three other people, before they fled.

Police casualty figures from Islamist attacks are often lower than those given by witnesses caught up in them.

In the attack in Jos, a man drove a car to the entrance of the Christ Chosen Church and then blew it up, said Emmanuel Davou, 53, who lives nearby.

Emmanuel Ayeni, police commissioner for Plateau state, of which Jos is the capital, told journalists 41 people were being treated for injuries in a local hospital. “The circumstances of the two killed by mobs is still unclear,” he said.

Boko Haram has been blamed for hundreds of killings in bomb or gun attacks over the past two years.