Bomb at Arabic school in Nigeria adds to sectarian fears

AFP

28 December 2011

Bomb at Arabic school in Nigeria adds to sectarian fears

LAGOS — Attackers threw a bomb into an Arabic school in mainly Christian southern Nigeria, wounding six children and an adult, police said Wednesday, after Christmas attacks sparked fears of sectarian clashes.

Meanwhile, some 90,000 people were displaced in the hard hit northeastern city of Damaturu after clashes between Islamist group Boko Haram and security forces last week, with officials rushing to provide relief materials.

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It was not clear who was behind the bomb attack at the Arabic school in Delta state, located in the oil-producing Niger Delta region.

While scores of explosions have occurred in the delta in recent years, they have mainly targeted oil installations and have not taken on a sectarian dimension.

"A locally made low-capacity explosive was thrown into an Arabic school in Sapele at 10:00 pm yesterday," said state police spokesman Charles Mouka.

"It was thrown from an unidentified moving car ... Six children and one adult were wounded."

The children are between five and eight years old, he said, and had been at the school for evening Arabic and Koranic lessons. The area around the school, which has about 50 students, has been cordoned off, Mouka said.

Christian leaders have urged authorities to take action against spiralling violence blamed on Boko Haram, with deep frustration over their seeming inability to stop attacks despite heavy-handed military crackdowns.

A Christian leader in Nigeria's north has warned that "religious war" could result if the problem is not addressed, though he urged Christians not to retaliate.

Nigeria's top Muslim spiritual leader met President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday over the Christmas attacks and afterward said the violence did not signal a religious conflict.

"I want to assure all Nigerians that there is no conflict between Muslims and Christians, between Islam and Christianity," Sultan of Sokoto Muhammad Sa'ad Abubakar told journalists after the 90-minute meeting.