Nigeria church bombings kill 19, spark reprisals

(June 18, 2012) Suicide bombers killed 21 people in attacks on three churches in Nigeria during Sunday services, exacerbating religious tensions in the West African nation that is almost evenly divided between Muslims and Christians. Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi condemned the "systematic attacks against Christian places of worship" which he said proved the existence of an "absurd plan of hate" in Nigeria. It was the third Sunday in a row that deadly attacks have been carried out against Christian churches in northern Nigeria. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the latest one, but suspicion fell on the radical Islamist sect Boko Haram because it claimed responsibility for the two earlier weekend assaults. Boko Haram is waging an increasingly bloody fight with security agencies and the public in Nigeria. More than 560 people have been killed in violence blamed on the sect this year alone, according to an Associated Press count. Sunday morning, suicide bombers drove explosive-laden cars to the gates of two churches in different parts of the city of Zaria and detonated them within minutes of each other. A similar attack targeted a church in the city of Kaduna about half an hour later, police said, prompting reprisals by Christian youths. The attacks in the northern state of Kaduna killed a total of 21 people and wounded at least 100, said a relief agency official.