At least 15 people were killed and dozens wounded when a suicide car bomber drove into a Nigerian church compound and detonated his explosives as worshippers left an early morning service.
(Telegraph) The bomber targeted the Living Faith church, in a neighbourhood near the airport in Bauchi, the capital of northern Bauchi state. The timed blast caught many people outside the church without any cover to protect themselves from the explosion, causing heavy casualties, witnesses said.
At least eight people were killed in the blast, as well as the bomber, Bauchi state police commissioner Mohammed Ladan said. He said security personnel stationed near the churches stopped the car from getting any closer to worshippers than it did.
More than 40 people suffered injuries in the blast, the Nigerian Red Cross said.
The powerful blast from the car destroyed part of the Harvest Field Church, sending walls of the building crashing down on worshippers still inside. Others suffered burns in the blast.
The death toll from the blast could rise. Police and soldiers surrounded the church immediately after the explosion, stopping emergency workers from going inside to collect the corpses of those killed. Witnesses who left the church after the blast said they saw as many as 10 dead.
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