Suicide bomb attack on Catholic church in Nigeria

(September 24, 2012) A suicide car bomber blew himself up outside a Catholic church in northern Nigeria on Sunday, killing himself and at least two other people and wounding 46, police said. Police cordoned off the area around St. John's church after the blast, which caused minimal damage to the building but killed at least two people in a market area of Bauchi city. Police spokesman Hassan Mohammed said the bomber, plus a woman and a child were killed, and 46 other people got various injuries, including two policemen protecting the church. He added that it would have been worse had the bomber managed to enter the building. No group or individual had claimed responsibility for the attack, though suspicion immediately fell on the radical Islamist sect known as Boko Haram Boko, which means “Western education is sacrilege”. The group has been waging an increasingly bloody fight against nation's weak central government. More than 680 people have died in drive-by killings and bombings blamed on Boko Haram this year alone, according to a count by Associated Press. The sect has demanded the release of all its captive members and has called for strict Shariah law to be implemented across the entire country.