MidnightWatcher – Prophecy in Motion

By GODWIN ATTAH, Associated Press – “Three suicide bomb attacks on churches rocked a northern Nigerian state Sunday, killing at least 21 people and wounding about 100, officials said, prompting protests in a state that has previously been strained by religious tensions.

The first two blasts occurred within minutes of each other and targeted two churches in the city of Zaria, said Kaduna State police chief Mohammed Abubakar Jinjiri. A third blast hit a church in the city of Kaduna about half an hour later, Jinjiri said.

An official working for a relief agency involved in rescue efforts said Sunday evening that 21 people had been killed and that at least 100 people were wounded in Sunday’s blasts. He spoke on condition of anonymity as he said he wasn’t authorized to speak to journalists.

Earlier in the day, Nigerian Red Cross official Andronicus Adeyemo said the Zaria attacks killed the bomber and at least one other person and left 51 wounded. The Kaduna attack claimed 10 more lives, he said, and wounded 29 people.

Jinjiri said security at the three churches prevented the suicide bombers from ramming explosive-laden cars into the buildings filled with worshippers.

‘If not for security, there would have been (many) more casualties,’ Jinjiri said.

Churches have been increasingly targeted by violence in Nigeria. The situation has led churches in Nigeria’s predominantly Muslim north to boost their security in a nation of more than 160 million people almost equally divided between Muslims and Christians.” Read more.

Boko Haram: Our Goal is to Eliminate Followers of Christ – “Terrorist organisation Boko Haram has issued a statement making clear that its goal is to eliminate followers of Christ from Nigeria and establish an Islamic state. ‘The Nigerian state and Christians are our enemies and we will be launching attacks on the Nigerian state and its security apparatus as well as churches until we achieve our goal of establishing an Islamic state in place of the secular state,’ Boko Haram stated in no uncertain terms in the statement published by the Osun Defender on Thursday. ‘We are responsible for the suicide attack on a church in Jos and also another attack on another church in Biu,’ a spokesman for the group, Abul Qaqa, is said to have told reporters in the northeastern city of Maiduguri over the phone.” Read more.