Victims of a Kaduna bombing await treatment in a hospital on Sunday.Photo: Reuters
…Rescuers search for victims’ bodies
Rescuers searched for bodies and hospitals struggled to find blood Monday after suicide attacks on three churches in Nigeria and subsequent rioting killed at least 45.Over 100 people were reportedly wounded in the incidents.
The attacks in Kaduna State that led to reprisal violence which saw Christian youths target Muslims with machetes and clubs were the latest in a wave of Sunday church bombings in Nigeria.
There was no claim of responsibility for the bombings, but Islamist group Boko Haram has carried out scores of such attacks.
Suicide bombers attacked two churches in the city of Zaria and one in the city of Kaduna, killing at least 16 people, AFP news agency quoted police spokesman Frank Mba as saying in a statement.
After news of the blasts spread, Christian youths took to the main motorway that leads to the capital Abuja, attacking motorists who looked Muslim.
Christian mobs carrying machetes and clubs also prowled the streets of Kaduna on Sunday, the Red Cross said.
"Many of them need surgery, but a shortage of blood is stalling treatment," a Red Cross official in Kaduna said of the wounded on Monday. "We're still going about looking for more bodies in these neighbourhoods."
Officials put the state -- which last year saw rioting that left more than 600 people dead in the wake of presidential elections -- under curfew for 24 hours.
"As of last night, around 10 pm, the death toll stood at 45," a rescue official said on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to issue death tolls. "The death toll is expected to rise when we get updated."
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