Blast on the roof of the church @ Philippines

MANILA – On the roof of a Roman Catholic church at a police base on a Muslim-dominated southern island in the Philippines, a crude bomb exploded on Saturday, injuring six people, an army spokesman said.


The improvised explosive was hidden in the ceiling of the chapel, which is located inside a police camp. - AP(File Photo)

Military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Randolf Cabangbang said, among those injured was the Catholic priest celebrating the early morning Christmas mass.

There were 100 people at the service in the main police base on the island of Jolo, a stronghold of the Abu Sayaf, a small Islamist militant group with ties to al-Queda, Cabangbang said.

Up to this time, no group claimed responsibility for the attack. In Jolo since early 2000’s , the Abu Sayyaf has been blamed for several bomb attacks on the Roman Catholic cathedral and for the disappearance of priests and nuns.

Since 2004, dozens of U.S. army Special Forces have been deployed in Jolo to help train and advise security forces fighting the militants.

Source: Reuters

Christmas Eve bomb blasts kill 38 in Nigeria


Jos (Nigeria): A series of unprecedented Christmas Eve bomb blasts and attacks on churches have left at least 38 people dead in Nigeria as authorities worked on Saturday to keep the violence from spreading.
Seven explosions went off in two different areas of the flashpoint city of Jos in central Nigeria, killing 32 people and injuring 74, many of them as they were doing their Christmas shopping, police said.
In the city of Maiduguri in northern Nigeria, suspected members of an Islamist sect that launched an uprising last year attacked three churches, leaving six people dead and one of the churches burnt, an army spokesman said.
There was no immediate indication the incidents in the vast country’s north and central regions were linked.
Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan pledged that those behind the bombings would be brought to justice.
“The president expressed sadness at explosions which killed many innocent Nigerians, Christians and Muslims alike, in Jos, Plateau State,” a statement from his office said. “This is the very first time explosives of this magnitude are involved,” Plateau state police commissioner Abdulrahman Akano said. Police had not determined who was behind the blasts, he said, adding it appeared dynamite was used. AFP