A car rigged with bomb was parked at the premises of the church, which exploded around 8: 30 AM as church members left the church premises after the Christmas day mass. The second blast occurred when a suicide bomber drove a BMW car into the church premises. Apart from those killed in the attack, several others have been taken to the hospital for life threatening injuries. Many cars were also destroyed in the attack.
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.
In Jos, a second explosion struck near a Mountain of Fire and Miracles Church, government spokesman Pam Ayuba said. Ayuba said gunmen later opened fire on police guarding the area, killing one police officer. Two other locally made explosives were found in a nearby building and disarmed, he said.
"The military are here on ground and have taken control over the entire place," Ayuba said.
The city of Jos is located on the dividing line between Nigeria's predominantly Christian south and Muslim north. Thousands have died in communal clashes there over the last decade.
On Sunday, local police commissioner Tanko Lawan said two explosions had struck Damaturu, including a suicide car bombing. Lawan said that blast happened around noon, targeting the headquarters of Nigeria's secret police in the area. There was no immediate information about casualties, he said.
In the last year, Boko Haram has carried out increasingly bloody attacks in its campaign to implement strict Shariah law across Nigeria, a nation of more than 160 million people.
Two other blasts near churches on Christmas morning, including one near the capital Abuja, left at least 28 people dead.
"A bomb went off at the major roundabout and another one exploded at the [secret police] office," a resident in Damaturu, located in Nigeria's northeast, told AFP. "It is believed to be a suicide bombing."
Other residents gave similar accounts. Police could not immediately be reached.
In Gadaka, also in the northeast, "Christian worshippers were attacked at the church in Gadaka while observing a Christmas vigil," a resident said.
"The worshippers fled but the attackers burnt their cars they abandoned. Nobody was hurt and the church was not touched."
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