Seven hurt as bomb hits Arabic school in Nigeria

Wed Dec 28, 2011 11:46am GMT
 

By Austin Ekeinde

PORT HARCOURT (Reuters) - Assailants threw a crude homemade bomb into an Arabic school in southern Nigeria's Delta state overnight, police said, wounding seven people and escalating tensions between Muslims and Christians after a spate of church bombings across the nation.

Six of the wounded were children younger than nine.

The attack around 10 p.m. on Tuesday came two days after Christmas Day bombings of churches and other targets by Islamist militant group Boko Haram claimed around 32 lives in a coordinated strike which seemed aimed at igniting sectarian strife.

"Some men driving in a Camry car threw a low capacity explosive into a building where an Arabic class was taking place," police spokesman Charles Muka said.

"Children aged between four and nine were taking a lesson. Six children were injured and one adult," he said.

He said police suspected a local vigilante group.

Boko Haram, a sect which aims to impose Islamic sharia law across Nigeria, claimed responsibility for the blasts, the second Christmas in a row it has caused carnage.

The worst attack killed at least 27 people in the St Theresa Catholic church in Madalla, a town on the edge of the capital Abuja, and devastated surrounding buildings and cars as worshippers poured out of the church after Christmas mass.   Continued...

 
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