Suicide Bomber Targets Churches in Kaduna, Nigeria

Repelled by church security, suspected Islamic extremist detonates blast at nearby taxi stand

By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries

KADUNA, NIGERIA (ANS) -- Compass Direct News (CDN) is reporting that churches celebrating Easter services were the targets of a suicide bomber who killed at least 38 people yesterday in Kaduna city in northern Nigeria, sources said.

Site of a bomb explosion at a road in Kaduna, Nigeria on Sunday, April 8, 2012
CDN said that security personnel at one of the church buildings blocked the bomber, believed to belong to the Boko Haram Islamic sect, who then decided to detonate his explosives in the street at a nearby motorcycle taxi center, the sources said.

"Dozens of people were injured in addition to those killed," said the CDN story. "The bombs damaged the buildings of the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) Good News church and the All Nations Christian Assembly, besides blasting off roofs from homes and hotels and destroying vehicles."

Located on the same street, Gwari Road, are the Redeemed Christian Church of God and an Assemblies of God church. Luka Binniyat, a Christian resident of the city, told Compass that law enforcement agents believed the ECWA church was the primary target.

"Richard Markus, a detective, mentioned that the bomber's main target was the ECWA Good News church a few meters from the scene of the bomb blast," Binniyat said. "He tried forcing his way past, but the security man stood in between him and the blockade. He even pushed him a ways before some policemen manning the gate of the church rushed down to the scene."

Another scene of the aftermath of
the bombing in Kaduna
Boko Haram (literally, "Forbidden Book," translated as "Western education is forbidden") has targeted state offices, law enforcement sites and some moderate mosques in its effort to destabilize the government and impose a strict version of sharia (Islamic law) on all of Nigeria, but Kaduna resident Stanley Yakubu said that Christians are one of its main targets.

"The truth is that there is a deliberate effort to silence or eliminate the Christians in the north," he said.

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