Nigerian Easter Bombing Death Toll Rises

In northern Nigeria, medical examiners continue to regard dozens of wounded after an Easter Sunday bombing killed a minimum of 36 people. The bombing occurred despite increased security in the course of the region.  Nobody immediately claimed responsibility, though the militant Islamist group Boko Haram is suspected to be behind the violence. 

Residents of Kaduna say life is returning to normal Monday, an afternoon after the automobile bombing that rocked a hectic commercial area within the regional capital.

The leader of a neighborhood Christian interfaith association, David Obadiah, said people remain vigilant but life cannot stop.

"Kaduna is peaceful.  Security features had been big and those are going about doing their normal businesses.  People must do their normal business, people should sell available in the market, people ought to do all those things.  You cannot just be waiting indoors suspecting that someone is coming to bomb," Obadiah said.

Northern Nigeria is tormented by almost daily shootings and bomb attacks which are increasingly targeting civilians.

On Sunday morning, police say a Honda Accord, laden with explosives, blew up on a prime city street in Kaduna.  Some suspect the intended target was a close-by Christian church.

Authorities said it appeared that the automobile had tried to approach the church compound but was turned back by security guards.  Minutes later, the auto exploded near a motorbike taxi station.

The extremist group Boko Haram is thought to focus on Christians during holidays.

Churches within the north have employed volunteer security guards since bombings killed 44 people on Christmas Day last year, including greater than 30 at a Catholic church near the capital, Abuja.

Nigerian security forces had stepped up security within the north for Easter weekend, after saying they'd uncovered multiple plots to disrupt festivities.

However, Sunday's attack in Kaduna, in addition to smaller incidents through the region, show just how stubborn and pervasive the threat really is.

Security analyst and retired army major Yahyu Shunku said the govt. should do more.

"The main aim of presidency is to guarantee the safety and lives and properties of its citizens," noted Shunku. "The govt has didn't secure its citizens from most of these attacks. So it's now left for the folks of the rustic to determine a method out for themselves. The govt have been saying they'll take action, they are going to do that, they are going to try this. And as much as the current, nothing was done."

According to Human Rights Watch, Boko Haram has killed greater than 1,000 people since its resurgence in 2010.

The Nigerian government has struggled to place a stop to attacks.  Attempts at indirect peace talks with Boko Haram fell apart in March.

Boko Haram desires to impose Islamic law in northern Nigeria and is demanding the discharge of arrested members.  

Experts say the core Boko Haram cell has fractured into groups of varying extremism, a few of that have professed ties to al-Qaida's Africa franchises.

From WhatNewsToday.net

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