The number of people injured in Sunday’s suicide bomb attack on Christ’s Chosen Church in Rukuba area of Jos, has risen to over 50 with three lives lost.
The Special Joint Task Force (SJTF) confirmed that a suicide bomber denoted a car bomb at the entrance of Christ’s Chosen Church in Rukuba area of Jos, the Plateau state capital during the Sunday morning service.
The STF, said in a statement in Jos that the suicide bomber was among the dead, while the others were believed to be victims of mob actions after the blast.
According to eye witness accounts, the male suicide bomber denoted the bomb outside the Church’s premises, and the resulting explosion led to the collapse of the Church’s building as seen in the picture.
Channels Television correspondent in Plateau state, Yemi Kosoko, confirmed that three people were killed in the explosion, while the number of those injured has risen to 52.
Residents of the state have reportedly besieged the Bingham University Teaching Hospital (BUTH) and Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH), where the victims are receiving treatment. Residents in the state are searching for some of their loved ones.
Amongst the victims were the elderly, women and children, who had suffered various degrees of injuries from the blast. Most are with orthopedic and lacerated injuries.
A Church elder with his son and two other people are reported to be in critical conditions and they have been referred to JUTH for urgent surgeries.
Officials of the International Community of Red Cross and Nigerian Emergency Agency (NEMA) supported the hospitals that were overwhelmed with the large number of victims.
Irate youths in Rukuba, blocked all roads leading to the Church, protesting the continued insurgent attack on Churches. The protest was however curtailed by officers of the Special Joint Task Force (SJTF) serving in the state.
The Commissioner of Police in the state, Dipo Ayeni confirmed the suicide bombing, noted that two motor-cycle riders were also attacked by the protesting youths, but the police and officers of the SJTF were able to bring the chaos under control.
Plateau state has in recent years persistently recorded unabated bomb attacks against Churches, killing an untold number of people.
Biu attack
In what seems to be coordinated attacks, just as the bombing in Jos was going on, unknown gunmen also opened fire on a Church in Biu, a town in troubled Borno state.
The gunmen sprayed the congregation with their rifles, wounding yet to be confirmed number of people.
Hamidu Wakawa, an eye witness to the attack in Biu, confirmed the incident saying “three gunmen came to the premises of the Church and started firing at people outside the Church before going into the main building to carry on their killings….. Many people have been killed and wounded” he added.
More from Boko Haram
Fundamentalist sect Boko Haram, has claimed responsibility for the coordinated attacks of suicide bombing in Jos and the shooting in Borno state, killing at least three people, while also threatening more violence.
“We are responsible for the suicide attack on a church in Jos and also another attack on another church in Biu,” a purported spokesman for the group told reporters in the city of Maiduguri in a phone conference.
“We launched these attacks to prove the Nigerian security wrong and to debunk their claim that we have been weakened by the military crackdown.”
This is coming after a suicide bomber, on Friday, detonated an explosive at the police headquarters, killing a number of police officers.