Death Toll in Sunday's Military Church Suicide Bombing Reaches 15

Four more wounded parishioners died of their injuries incurred Sunday at the suicide bombing of St. Andrew Military Protestant Church situated at Armed Forces Command and Staff College, Jaji, in Kaduna State.

The deaths today of the four bring to 15 the total number of reported fatalities since Sunday’s devastating detonation suspected to be the work of Boko Haram. However unconfirmed sources told the press that the death toll could be twice that number. On Monday, an official at the base's medical center told reporters on condition of anonymity that at least 30 died from the blasts and another 45 others had been wounded in the attack. The military hospital ordinarily bars its staff from speaking to journalists.

Nigeria's military has been unable to stop the attacks and has alienated locals with heavy-handed tactics and retaliatory attacks that have seen dozens of civilians killed at a time. Meanwhile, soldiers and security forces routinely have been killed in guerrilla attacks by Boko Haram.

The Commandant of the college, Air Vice Marshall Abdullahi Kure said today he received some senior military officers from Defence Headquarters, Abuja, who gave first hand assessment to the college. A military source who heard the Commandant told SaharaReporters that the corpses of those who died in the church premises are still at a Nigerian military hospital in Kaduna, and Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital in Zaria.

Source: SaharaReporters