Nigerian attacks
December 26, 2011
A day after a series of terrorist attacks killed dozens of churchgoers on Christmas Day in Nigeria, the head of the Catholic Church, Pope Benedict XVI, has pled for an end to violence that "brings only pain, destruction and death."
The pope, speaking from his window overlooking St Peter's Square in Rome, condemned the attacks since claimed by Islamist militants in Nigeria as an "absurd gesture" and prayed that "the hands of the violent be stopped".
Militants of the Boko Haram sect said they had set off the bombs, raising fears that they are trying to ignite sectarian civil war. Three of the five bombs hit churches and one killed at least 27 people at a Catholic church. A total of 39 people were killed in the attacks´.
Widespread attacks
According to government spokesman Pam Ayuba, gunmen opened fire on police guarding that site after the blast and killed one officer.
There were four blasts on Christmas Day altogether in Nigeria, with two additional blasts occurring in Damaturu. One of those was a suicide attack that killed three security agents. On Christmas Eve, a fifth attack took place in the town of Gadaka, with no injuries reported.
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle also condemned the attacks in Nigeria, as well as a suicide attack that killed 20 people in Afghanistan.
"Even on Christmas Day the world is sadly not spared the cowardice and horrors of terrorism," he said.
The White House called the attacks "senseless violence and tragic loss of life" in a statement, adding that the attacks initially appeared to be terrorist acts and that the US would assist in bringing those responsible to justice.
History of Christmas violence
Boko Haram is known in Nigeria for its increasingly bloody attacks which are aimed at implementing strict Shariah law across Nigeria. Nigerians are split roughly evenly between Muslims in the north of the country and Christians in the south.
In the native Hausa language, the name Boko Haram has the meaning "Western education is sinful." The group is based loosely in its thinking on the Taliban movement in Afghanistan and has emerged as a major security threat in the country of some 160 million people.
Last year, a series of bombings in Jos on Christmas Eve took at least 32 lives and left several dozen wounded.
Author: Matt Zuvela, Gabriel Borrud (AFP, AP, Reuters)
Editor: Andreas Illmer