Kaduna State was yesterday thrown into another round of
pandemonium following a suicide bomb blast that rocked the Saint Rita’s
Catholic Church at Ungwa Yero in Malali, Kaduna North LGA. The church has a
capacity to accommodate over 1,000 worshipers.The victims were rushed to several hospitals within the Kaduna metropolis. Although details of the numbers could not be ascertained officially, our correspondents gathered that three dead bodies and 35 injured persons were taken to 44 Army Reference Hospital, four bodies and over 88 injured persons were taken to Barau Dikko Specialist Hospital, 14 injured persons were taken to Saint Gerard Catholic Hospital, one dead body and 14 injured persons were taken to Garkuwa Hospital, three injured persons were taken to Giwa Hospital, and two injured persons were taken to Yusuf Dantsoho Hospital.
The location of the church is more or less like a border
separating the Kwaru, Badarawa and Ungwa Yero areas; while Christians dominate
the Ungwa Yero axis, Muslims dominate the other areas. They are normally
flashpoints during any crisis in Kaduna.
LEADERSHIP had reported, prior to the Sallah celebration,
that there could be security threats during the Eid-El-Kabir celebration, but a
top security operative told our correspondent that all flashpoints had been
properly manned across the state.
According to eyewitness accounts at the scene of the blast, the
suicide bomber came in a tinted Toyota jeep and was led by a motorcyclist who,
apparently, was showing him the way leading to the church.
A security source in Kaduna confirmed that some other people
were attacked and killed immediately after the terror attack. The sources said
security agents tried to manage the tense situation in order to avert
escalation of reprisal attacks.
He disclosed that the attacker rammed his car through the wall
and inside the church before the explosion. He stated that five worshipers died
on the spot and that four of the seriously wounded parishioners died in the
hospital later.
The incident led to abrupt closure of church services within
Kaduna metropolis.
The Catholic Archbishop of Kaduna Diocese, His Grace Bishop
Matthew Man-Ndagoso, visited the Saint Gerard Catholic Hospital where he
expressed his displeasure. The bishop said: “I feel more pained in my heart
over this unfortunate incident as 90 per cent of the victims are children. We
pray for their quick recovery and fortitude to bear the loss of those who died
in the process. My appeal is to the Christians, especially the Catholic youths,
not to consider reprisal as an option as this will rather create more tension
and add to the already bad situation”.
It is well – Rev.
Micah
The parish priest, Rev. Fr. Bonet Micah, who was conducting the
morning mass also suffered some degree of injuries. He could not speak to the
press while receiving treatment at the Garkuwa Specialist Hospital, but he
simply said, “It is well”. His car was also damaged by the blast.
Survivors speak
Grace Joseph, Veronica Angusa and Elisha Daniang, who survived
the attack, though with various degrees of injuries and were receiving
treatment at some of the hospitals, expressed thanks to God for being alive to
tell their stories. “We just heard a loud sound of explosion when the morning
mass was going on and the next thing was that the church building was falling
down,” said Angusa.
Eyewitness
accounts
Suicide bomber disguised by wearing a cross chain on his neck -
Andrew
One Mr Andrew confirmed that the suicide bomber was wearing a
cross chain disguising himself to be a Christian in a jeep with tinted glass.
“The bomber discovered to be on a suicide mission was wearing a cross chain on
his neck; he suddenly resisted church security and hurriedly rammed into the
church,” he said.
We tried stopping
him - Church security
The church security who spoke to our correspondents confirmed
that when the man came in the jeep, they tried stopping him from entering on grounds
that no vehicle was allowed to park inside, but he resisted. “The man came and
we tried to stop him. He pretended as if he was reversing and, all of a sudden,
manoeuvred his way with heavy speed and rammed through the church fence into
the church building, then a loud explosion was the next thing we
heard.”
Tension
Tension spontaneously filled the air as churches even far away
from the scene of the blast abruptly shared the grace and everybody quickly
moved to their various houses, apparently for fear of reprisal attacks. Shops
where also closed and the roads became deserted. People were seen hanging
beside their houses watching for the next thing that would happen.
Security
intervention
Shortly after the bomb explosion, a team of security operatives
was mobilised to the scene, an action that helped in averting a more
devastating reprisal that would have occurred. Other security men where also
deployed to major flashpoints that could ignite a crisis while several other
security checkpoints where mounted.
Meanwhile, the state police commissioner, Olufemi Adenaike, who
spoke to our correspondents appealed for calm, assuring that all was being done
to ensure safety of life and property. He said he could not ascertain the
number of casualties immediately.
The situation in Kaduna was, however, calm as at press
time.
How we escaped
death - choir master, altar boy
The unfortunate bomb blast that rocked the Saint Rita’s Catholic
Church, Ungwa Yero, Malali, was said to have occurred at the middle of
consecration, as the mass was ongoing. The attack, which affected mainly
children of teen age from the choir, also did not spare other church members
some of whom are in critical condition.
Mr Ezekiel Daniang, the choir master of the church, said the
bomb attack occurred barely a few minutes after he finished conducting the
choir songs and left the choir position to attend to something else far away
from the choir. All of a sudden he heard an ear-blowing sound as the walls of
the church began to fall apart, he said.
“As usual, we sing in between mass activities; so I just
finished conducting one of such interval songs and I left to attend to another
function within the church when, all of a sudden, I heard a loud sound when a
jeep vehicle rammed into the church building through the fence.
“The people that were mostly affected are my choir members and
the little children, although some other members of the church like those on
the altar and the priest were also affected. Two persons died instantly
including the suicide bomber, but there were over 150 others injured with some
in critical condition right now,” he said.
The altar boy, Emmanuel Thomas, said but for the intervention of
the parish priest who drew him away, he would have suffered more injuries than
he had. “When we heard the first sound, the priest thought it was a spark of
light, then suddenly a heavy blast occurred crushing the wall of the church and
people started running. The next place I found myself was in this hospital,” he
said.
2 injured as bomb
explodes near Bauchi secretariat
Two people were reportedly injured on Saturday night when an
improvised explosive device (IED)detonated along Illelah Street, behind Bauchi
local government secretariat.
A top security source who pleaded anonymity, however, said no
casualty was recorded as a result of the incident because the explosive device,
which was planted at an open field, was not targeted at anybody. “Two people
later reported to the hospital claiming that they sustained
injuries from the blast, so we turned them as our suspects because
everybody knows there was no casualty. But since they claimed to have
sustained injuries from the blast, they might be those that planted
it and sustained injury in the process. We have commenced investigation
into the matter,” the source
said.
But eyewitnesses told LEADERSHIP that they heard a loud noise
around 9: 30pm on Saturday that threw the residents of the area and passers-by
into panic as everybody scampered for
safety.
When contacted, the police public relations officer (PPRO) of
the Bauchi State command, DSP Abubakar Idris, told our correspondent that he
heard about the incident but could not confirm because he was currently out of
town. The commissioner of police, Muhammed Ladan, declined comment, lamenting
that journalists in Bauchi do not call him “until when something has occurred”.
Another suspected
bomber held
In another development, a suspected suicide bomber was yesterday
arrested in Yelwa, a suburb of the Bauchi metropolis, when he attempted to
attack a church during Sunday’s morning service. It was said that the suspect
was nabbed by the youths at a church in the area when he rode towards the place
of worship, even though there was a barricade at the entrance. The youths
apprehend and handed him over to the Yelwa police station.
NEMA confirms 8
dead, over 145 people injured
The spokesman of the National Emergency Management Agency
(NEMA), Yushua Shuaib, said that NEMA rescue team in collaboration with
stakeholders have so far confirmed at least eight people killed and more than
145 injured from the explosion at the Catholic church in Malali of Kaduna
State.
According to Shuaib, this figure was at 1.45pm.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility but Islamist sect
Boko Haram has claimed similar attacks in the past and has attacked several
churches with bombs and guns as it intensified its campaign against Christians
in the past year.
Jonathan: Kaduna
church suicide bombing is barbaric
President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday condemned the suicide bomb
attack on a Catholic Church in Kaduna, saying it was a barbaric and cruel act
by criminal and unpatriotic elements that are bent on wielding back the wheels
of progress by his administration to tackle terrorism in the country. The
federal government will not give up, he said.
Special adviser to the president on media and publicity, Dr.
Reuben Abati, noted in a statement that Jonathan, who was extremely saddened by
the explosion, described it as “barbaric, cruel and uncalled for”. He said the
president “expressed confidence that the war against terrorism would become
more unrelenting as the nation would never give in to the forces of terror and
retardation”.
Abati said the president observed that the apparent objective of
the criminal and unpatriotic elements and forces behind the attack was to set
back the progress the administration has made in the fight against terrorism in
the country.
“It is obvious that these people do not mean well for Nigeria
and its unity and development,” the presidential spokesman quoted Jonathan as
saying.
He said the president added that the persistence of messengers
of evil will not prevail over the will of the government and the people to
secure peace and safety”.
“Our efforts to deal with all acts of terror and violence would
only be redoubled even as the security agencies continue to receive all the
support they need from government to reverse this unfortunate and unacceptable
trend that threatens the peace and stability of our nation,” Abati further
quoted President Jonathan as saying.
He said Jonathan “commiserated with the Catholic Church, family
and friends of the victims of the bombing, assuring them that government’s
resolve to deal with the threat of terrorism remains strong”.
Source: Leadership
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