Nigerian Easter Bombing Death Toll Rises to 36

NNN--- Red Cross workers , assisted by rescue teams, at scene of bomb blast near ECWA Church, one of the two churches in Kaduna which suicide cars bombers had attempted to blow up when Easter Sunday worship was going on April 8,2012. In the incident, a suicide car bomber, apparently failing to gain entry into ECWA Good News Church, detonated his explosives on a busy road, killing 38 people, mostly motorbike riders, and leaving a trail of charred motorcycles and debris. The massive blast also damaged the nearby ECWA Church and the All Nations Christian Assembly Church. In another , an explosion struck the city of Jos, another city of religious and ethnic violence. Some injuries in the blast were reported but no further details were available.Photo courtesy saharareporters.com --- NNN

Nigerian officials say a suicide car bombing near a church on Easter Sunday killed at least 36 people and wounded dozens more in the country's north.

Witnesses said security personnel in the city of Kaduna prevented the attacker from reaching a collection of churches.

Saidu Adamu, Kaduna state's information commissioner, says the explosion damaged several buildings on the city's main road and struck an area where motorcycle taxis do business.  He said it appeared the bomb had detonated prematurely, and that despite the casualties, the attack could have been much worse.

"I want to believe that we are so lucky that possibly the person who was carrying the bomb could not reach his target, and the bomb's timer was against him," he said.

Adamu noted that the city's streets are mostly empty on Sundays and said it was "lucky" the attack did not come on a work day.

A second blast hit later Sunday in the central city of Jos, wounding several people.  The explosions came after foreign diplomats warned of possible attacks on one of the holiest days on the Christian calendar.

Four bombs killed 44 people in Nigeria on Christmas Day last year, including more than 30 at a Catholic church near the capital, Abuja.

Adamu said authorities stationed 30 to 50 security personnel at Kaduna churches Sunday, and that the measures were "highly effective."  He also said citizens play an important role in maintaining security.

"Without peace we can never have any municipal government, so I want to assure that Kaduna state government will continue to do its best, but I also want to call on people to understand that security is a business of all," he said. 

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Sunday's attacks.

The radical Islamic group Boko Haram has killed hundreds of people this year in Nigeria and claimed responsibility for the Christmas Day bombings.

Boko Haram, whose name means "Western education is a sin" in the Hausa language, is fighting to turn northern Nigeria into a staunchly Islamic state. --- VOA News