The death toll in the twin attack on the Saint Andrew military protestant church located within the premises of the Armed Forces Command and Staff College, Jaji, Kaduna state has increased to 15.
The Commandant of the College, Air Vice Marshal Abdullahi Kureh confirmed the figure to the Kaduna state governor, Mr. Patrick Yakowa, who visited the site of the attack.
Governor Yakowa condemned the attack, insisting that security had been beefed up to forestall future recurrence.
He commiserated with the family of the victims, describing the incidence as an act of terrorism or religious extremism aimed at destroying the country.
He also stressed the need for a synergy between all the security agencies, traditional leaders, and other stakeholders to arrest the situation.
He directed that all government installations, as well as civilians should be properly guided against any attack.
The governor urged the perpetrators to lay down their arms, embrace peace as the government was ready to dialogue with them.
Governor Yakowa said the state government and the military would assist the victims to enable them recover as all medical bills of those affected would be settled by the state government.
According to an eyewitness report, one of the suicide bombers was sighted praying inside a toyota camry car before it finally exploded, killing worshippers at the Military Protestant Church of the Armed Forces Command and Staff College.
However, the view of many concerning the twin blast was that the attack was an intelligence failure because the level of insurgency had heightened since the Federal Government took the decision of placing ransom reward of N290m on the leaders of insurgency group; Boko Haram.
Military authorities are yet to release an update on the number of causalities affected in the blast, as the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Azubuike Ihejirika, while speaking at the opening of the Chief of Army Staff annual conference in Asaba the Delta state capital directed that an inquiry board be setup so as to unravel the cause of the bombing, vowing that in spite of the incessant attacks on the army, nothing would deter it from achieving its objectives, which was ridding the nation of terrorists and other elements bent on causing destabilising it.
He noted that the army would remain professional in the conduct of its operation and would keep strictly to the rules of service.
He stated that “despite the level of propaganda of the Boko Haram terrorists in the plot to discredit the army, we will not be deterred in our resolve to address the current internal security challenges in partnership with other security agencies.