In a separate incident in the northern city of Kano, gunmen in a car
opened fire early Monday on a police station that has been the target of
several attacks, wounding two officers, according to residents.
The
gunmen near Jos struck late Sunday in a village south of the city where
Christian-Muslim tensions ran high after the church attack, state
government spokesman Pam Ayuba told AFP, though the two attacks were not
thought to be linked.
“Unknown gunmen, in an apparent ambush late
Sunday, waylaid and shot dead three people and injured three others,
all Christians, in Chugwi village,” Ayuba said.
Such violence has
occurred repeatedly in and around Jos, located in the middle belt region
of Africa’s most populous nation between the mainly Muslim north and
predominantly Christian south.
Clashes between Christian and Muslim ethnic groups in the area have killed thousands in recent years.
“We
suspect that the attackers were herdsmen. They left with the handsets
of those killed and called numbers on their phones to alert their (the
victims’) relations that they were responsible for the killings,” he
said from the scene of the attack.
Ayuba, who is a native of the
Christian village, said no arrests have been made. The victims included
two brothers aged 25 and 30, he said.
Three other persons at Dogo
Garba, a nearby hamlet, were wounded by the same gunmen and were taken
to a nearby government hospital for treatment, he added.
The
shootings came hours after a suicide attack outside a Roman Catholic
church in Jos killed seven people, sparking panic and reprisals in which
security forces opened fire and youths clashed, leaving three others
dead.
It was the second suicide attack on a church in the city in
two weeks, after a February 26 attack claimed by Islamist group Boko
Haram killed three people and injured dozens.
Government and
relief officials told AFP that in addition to the 10 killed, 24 people
were injured and had been taken to three government hospitals in the
city.
Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan condemned Sunday’s
bombing and reaffirmed his government’s determination “to end the spate
of mindless attacks and killings.”
Jos remained tense in the aftermath of the bombing amid fears of a repeat of deadly riots which followed last month’s attack.
The volatile city was gradually returning to normal Monday morning with banks and shops opening for business, residents said.
No one has claimed responsibility for Sunday’s bombing.
Monday’s
attack in Kano occurred at Mandawari police station, which has been
repeatedly targeted by suspected members of Boko Haram.
Boko Haram
carried out its deadliest attack yet in Kano, Nigeria’s second-largest
city, with coordinated bombings and shootings on January 20 which killed
185 people.
Meanwhile, National President, Christian Association
of Nigeria, CAN, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor says he is pissed off that
President Goodluck Jonathan is treating terrorists with kid gloves,
saying it is time the president acted decisively and dealt with Boko
Haram sect.
Oritsejafor was speaking in the wake of another suicide bombing at St. Finbarr’s Catholic Church in Jos.
The
cleric lamented the way Christians were being killed and called for a
decisive action from the president to tackle the growing terrorism in
the country.
The CAN president condemned the suicide bombing, describing it as barbaric and out-rightly condemnable in all ramifications.
He
called on well meaning Nigerians to rise up and defend the nation
against acts of terrorism and condemned in totality, the Jos bombing.
Oritsejafor,
speaking through his Media aid, Kenny Ashaka, said any well meaning
Nigerian would not relent in condemning the acts of terrorism in any
part of the country, saying this particular one was barbaric and
condemnable.
“This is one of the reasons why we called on the
Federal Government only last week not to treat terrorists with kid
gloves,” he stated
The cleric said it was time the perpetrators of
this dastardly acts were nabbed and prosecuted to serve as deterrent to
others, lamenting that Boko Haram had been pampered for too long.
“We
are using this opportunity once again to reiterate our call on the
Federal Government to deal decisively with those who are perpetrating
these acts of terrorism in the country. They should not be pampered at
all. They should be dealt with in accordance with the laws of the land,”
he said.
There have been reprisal attacks against Muslims in Jos, with reports of shops being set on fire.
Emergency
officials said that four people, including the bomber, were immediately
pronounced dead at St Finbar’s Church in the Rayfield area of Jos.
Eyewitnesses
said the suicide bombers refused to open the boot of their car when
challenged at the church gates before detonating the explosives as
worshippers approached them.
Parish priest, Rev Peter Umoren
recalled the moment of the explosion: “Just barely 10 minutes into the
mass, I heard these blasts… and there was this chaos and the people were
finding their way out of the church,” he said.
Pam Ayuba, a
spokesperson for Plateau state where Jos is located, told the Associated
Press that the blast damaged the church’s roof, blew out its windows
and destroyed a portion of the perimeter fence.
Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan condemned the attack but said the government was “winning the war against the terrorists.”
He
called on people “to remain patient and refrain from taking matters
into their own hands through actions such as reprisal attacks.”
Source: PM News
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