Nigeria Probes Christmas Carnage

AFP

26 December 2011

Nigeria Probes Christmas Carnage

Nigeria on Monday probed a wave of Christmas Day bomb attacks that killed at least 40 and was blamed on Islamists, including one blast that ripped through a crowd of worshippers exiting mass.

The government blamed Islamist sect Boko Haram for three attacks on Sunday, including bomb explosions at two churches -- the deadliest as Christmas mass ended near the capital Abuja -- and a suicide attack in the northeast.

A third church was targeted in the northeast on Christmas Eve, but no one was reported killed. Residents reported another explosion near a church in the northeastern city of Maiduguri late Sunday, but an army spokesman denied it.

The attack at St. Theresa Catholic Church in Madalla outside Abuja killed at least 35 and left a gruesome scene, with rescuers picking up body parts and putting them in plastic bags while emergency workers pleaded for ambulances.

Some of the wounded, including one man whose entrails protruded from his body, ran toward a priest for final blessings.

The attacks drew widespread condemnation, including from UN chief Ban Ki-moon, the United States and Britain.