Muslim sect claims Nigeria church attacks; 25 dead

[Omaha Steve]

http://apnews.excite.com/article/20111225/D9RRI9SG0.html

By JON GAMBRELL

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) - An explosion ripped through a Catholic church during Christmas Mass near Nigeria's capital Sunday, killing at least 25 people, officials said. A radical Muslim sect claimed the attack and another bombing near a church in the restive city of Jos, as explosions also struck the nation's northeast.

The Christmas Day attacks show the growing national ambition of the sect known as Boko Haram, which is responsible for at least 491 killings this year alone, according to an Associated Press count. The assaults come a year after a series of Christmas Eve bombings in Jos claimed by the militants left at least 32 dead and 74 wounded.

The first explosion on Sunday struck St. Theresa Catholic Church in Madalla, a town in Niger state close to the capital, Abuja, authorities said. Rescue workers recovered at least 25 bodies from the church and officials continued to tally those wounded in various hospitals, said Slaku Luguard, a coordinator with Nigeria's National Emergency Management Agency.

His agency already has acknowledged it didn't have enough ambulances immediately on hand to help the wounded. Luguard also said an angry crowd that gathered at the blast site hampered rescue efforts as they refused to allow workers inside.

[krucial]

1. Ban Them

I say again,the world woluld and will be amuch safer,peacefull place when ALL, religion is banned.
It would be even better to remove and expunge creationism as anything near fact or truth.

[Quantess]

4. Religion is the scourge of humanity.

But of course we can't ban religion. People need to learn to think for themselves!
Thinking for yourself is pretty much the opposite of religion.

All we can do is encourage and embrace open-mindedness. I feel like I'm the most open minded of all, being agnostic. I accept that the spiritual world is a great mystery, and that humans can't fully understand "god", whatever that is.

But trying to ban religion would be a really bad idea.

[Posteritatis]

7. Because it's just that simple, right? (nt)

[joshcryer]

10. Heh, that's what creates them to begin with.

Ban Christianity in the United States and watch how quickly, how utterly quickly, people start blowing themselves up in the name of it.

[Monty22001]

14. ugh

People on here are sooo self-aware that they think they're showing enlightment by bashing all religions and especially the one that is the victim in this case and ignoring the fact that nearly all this violence and nonsense is done by islam to others (and athiests too). Well, that just makes you so wonderful doesn't it?

[Boston_Chemist]

2. Are the killings religiously motivated?

Or is there something else at play here?

Can't tell from the article. The fact that the sect responsible for this mayhem is religious may have nothing to do with its motivation for violence.

[hugo_from_TN]

3. Really??

A radical muslim group attacks several christian churches on Christmas for the second year in a row and you ask if it's religiously motivated? I'm at a loss for words...

These guys need to be hunted down and killed or imprisoned pronto. Disgusting.

[Boston_Chemist]

5. The source of violence is usually found in the economics of the situation.

That is more or less what I am wondering about. Religion is typically used as a pretext for these sorts of things.

[BootinUp]

8. good point.

Hard to know from the info available here.

[joshcryer]

11. Boko Haram is purely ideological, economics has nothing to do with their tyranny.

[dmallind]

9. You have to understand DU religious apologetics

Christianity gets the credit for Bill Gates' philanthropy, even when he has long stated he is not religious at all, because his dad was and he went to church as a kid.

But somebody who says "I killed my kids for God" and attended a fundamentalist church for years is not motivated by religion at all, just ill.

Religion can only get credit, never blame.

[Boston_Chemist]

13. I am an Atheist, but Islamophobia alerts me to the murderous neocons.

Not a big fan of either Hitchens nor Harris, as the both gave me the impression of being incessantly self-promoting in the Atheist arena, with the purpose of redirecting its energy against Islam.

[joshcryer]

12. They got the leader, Mohammed Yusuf, but such groups...

...are damn near impossible to weed out, takes generations.

[Skittles]

6. religious nuttery