These attacks took place on or around the date of Easter celebrated by Western Christians. Orthodox Pascha will be celebrated on April 15, 2012.
Abuja: At least 50 people were killed when explosives concealed in two cars went off near a church during Easter Sunday services in the northern Nigerian city of Kaduna, eye-witnesses said.
Shehu Sani, the President of Civil Rights Congress based in Kaduna, said two explosions took place at the Assemblies of God’s Church near the centre of the city with a large Christian population and known as a major cultural and economic centre in Nigeria’s north.
“There were two explosions and the casualty figure may go up because some injuries were really critical,” he said on phone.
Another resident of the city, Miss Blessing Audu said that the explosion has caused panic among Christians celebrating Easter.
She said some parts of the church were damaged even as the vibration caused by the explosives were heard in several parts of the city.
An emergency worker on condition of anonymity explained that the bombs were planted in two cars near the church.
At least 50 people were killed amid fears that the casualties may rise from the blasts.
He said his agency has been able to recover 20 bodies from the site.
Police spokesman Aminu Lawal confirmed the incident but sought more time before making a formal statement.
Ahead of Easter celebrations, the US and the UK had warned of possible bomb attacks, advising its citizens against travelling to certain parts of the country.
No one has yet claimed responsibility for the bombings, but the BBC reported that Boko Haram recently said it would carry out attacks in the area over the Easter holiday.
The radical group has carried out a series of attacks on churches and other locations on Christmas Day, including outside the church in capital Abuja, where 44 people died.
It is waging a bloody war against the government to seek the enforcement of strict Shariah law and the release of all its detained members.
The group has bombed churches and attacked mosques in the 150-million nation that has both Muslim and Christian population, with Muslims predominant in the north while Christians mostly living in the South.
Coordinated multiple bombings and gun attacks in the northern city of Kano by Boko Haram cadres killed 185 people, including an Indian from Gujarat on January 20. A suicide bomb attack by the group at the United Nations headquarters in Abuja in July last year killed 26 persons.
PTI
Sheik has the story on many more Easter attacks:
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Attacking unbelievers on their holy days is a cherished Mohammedan tradition. Nothing to do with Islam, as always…
Not only Christians were attacked:
Bhagyanagar (Hyderabad) | 9th April, 2012: An indefinite curfew was today imposed in the sensitive Madannapet and Saidabad areas of the walled city. A Hanuman temple at Kurmaguda, (in Saidabad) was found desecrated on the Sunday morning which was followed by incidents of stabbing and heavy stone-pelting, hence curfew has been imposed, police said.
A day after the Hanuman Jayanti (6th April, 20-12), in the early hours of Sunday, 8th April 2012, the devotees of the Hanuman temple at Kurmaguda, in Saidabad, were in for a shock to find green colour had been splashed on the walls of the temple and pieces of cow meat were thrown inside the temple from the grills.
The naturally agitated Hindu youth protested against this sacrilegious act. The Muslims who are a majority in that area launched an offensive on the Hindus and both sides engaged in a duel of stone fight. Sensing trouble, the police indulged in lathi charge and also fired tear gas hurting many of the protesters. At the same time, the Muslims grouped themselves into a larger group and more or less occupied the main road of Saidabad armed with stones and swords, eye witnesses told NewsBharati…
Much more here.
Sword-wielding Muslim mobs? This is 2012!
Here’s another instance of that, in Egypt.
Nearly fourteen centuries ago, mobs of jihadis armed with primitive weapons took advantage of the weakness of their more civilized foes and brought about the Dark Ages. Why are we letting that happen all over again?
Islamabad, Apr 9,2012, (PTI)
The chairman of the committee that manages the famous Hinglaj Mata temple in Balochistan province of southwest Pakistan has been kidnapped just two days before the beginning of the shrine’s annual pilgrimage, according to a media report today.
Maharaj Ganga Ram Motiyani was abducted at Lasbela in Balochistan by two men in police uniform.
His followers organised a protest outside the Karachi Press Club yesterday and demanded that the government take steps for his recovery.
“Motiyani’s kidnapping appears to be a conspiracy against Hindus since he was kidnapped two days before the gathering.
“He has not been kidnapped for ransom because he is a poor man,” Ramesh Kumar Vankwani, patron of the Pakistan Hindu Council and a former member of the Sindh Assembly, was quoted as saying by The Express Tribune daily.
Thousands of Hindus, including yatris from India, travel to the cave temple of Hinglaj Mata for a pilgrimage in April…
More here.
