A series of blasts rocked several churches in Northern Nigeria this morning killing at least a dozen and wounding dozens more in what is surely part of the continuing terror campaign by the Islamic group Boko Haram targeting Nigerian Christians.
But reading this Associated Press report, one would come away mystified as to why these churches were subject to apparently random “violence”:
A Nigerian Red Cross official says at least 12 people were killed and 80 wounded in bomb attacks on three churches in the country’s north.
Andronicus Adeyemo says 10 people were killed and at least 29 wounded in a blast in the city of Kaduna Sunday morning. He says two people died and 51 were wounded in two church attacks in the nearby city of Zaria. He says the Zaria attacks occurred about 10 minutes apart in different parts of the city.
Churches have been increasingly targeted by violence in Nigeria, a nation of more than 160 million people almost equally divided between Muslims and Christians.
An Easter Day blast in Kaduna killed at least 38 people. A Christmas Day suicide bombing of a Catholic church near Nigeria’s capital killed at least 44 people.
As for the source of these blasts, all the reader is left with is this incredibly vague sentence:
Churches have been increasingly targeted by violence in Nigeria, a nation of more than 160 million people almost equally divided between Muslims and Christians.
Apparently “violence” is sweeping Nigeria (not to be confused with its American cousin, “violent extremism”).
If only we could find where this utterly random “violence” emanates we might be able to do something about it. But alas, the Associated Press hasn’t been able to track that down yet.
Although Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jonnie Carson has assured us that religion has nothing to do with the violence in Nigeria, so that eliminates one possibility.
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