Muslim Suicide Bomber Destroys Nigerian Catholic Church

A suicide bomber drove a jeep packed with explosives into a Catholic church in northern Nigeria Sunday morning, killing 

at least eight people, injuring more than 100 and triggering reprisal attacks that killed at least two more, officials said.

The bomber drove right into the packed St. Rita's church in the Malali area of Kaduna, a volatile ethnically and religiously mixed city, witnesses said.

MICHAEL SMITH/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Soldiers stand guard as people look at the burnt remains of the bomber’s car.

National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) spokesman Yushua Shuaib said eight people were confirmed killed and more than 100 others were injured.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility but Islamist sect Boko Haram has claimed similar attacks in the past as it intensified its campaign against Christians in the past year.

A wall of the church was blasted open and scorched black, with debris lying around. Police cordoned the area off.

Church attacks often target Nigeria's middle belt, where its largely Christian south and mostly Muslim north meet and where sectarian tensions run high. Kaduna's mixed population lies along that faultline.

MICHAEL SMITH/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

The suicide bombing sparked fierce reprisals that saw a Christian mob burn a man alive in day of a bloody of violence that left at least 10 people dead and 145 wounded.

Shortly after the blast, angry Christian youth took to the streets armed with sticks and knives. A Reuters reporter saw two 

bodies at the roadside lying in pools of blood.

"We killed them and we'll do more," shouted a youth, with blood on his shirt, before police chased him and others away. Police set up roadblocks and patrols across the town in an effort to prevent the violence spreading. See Chick's MEN OF PEACE?