[ 2011-12-11 ]

Bomb blasts targeting football fans kill one in Nigeria
JOS, Nigeria (AFP) - Three bomb blasts targeting
bars where fans watched the Real Madrid-Barcelona
football match rocked the Nigerian city of Jos,
officials said Sunday, with one death and 10
injuries reported.

The bombs were said to have been planted near
outdoor bars -- called "viewing centres" in
Nigeria -- late Saturday in the city, which has
been hit by waves of violence between Christian
and Muslim ethnic groups in recent years.

"So far, we have evacuated 10 people that
sustained various degrees of injuries from the
blasts to hospital," said Red Cross official
Manata Bambe, who declined to comment on the
number of deaths.

An official with the Stefanos Foundation, a
Christian NGO, said one person was killed.

"There were three blasts, all targeting soccer
viewing centres," said Mark Lipdo. "The bombs were
detonated outside the viewing centres, which was
responsible for the low casualty recorded."

He said of the 10 people wounded, four were in
critical condition, including two who were in
comas.

"One person was killed in the blast," he said,
adding that the victim had been decapitated by the
explosion.

Pam Ayuba, spokesman for the governor of Plateau
state, where Jos is the capital, also reported
three blasts with one person killed, though he
said seven were wounded.

The explosions occurred in predominantly Christian
areas of the city.

Violence in recent years in Jos and the
surrounding area between Christian and Muslim
ethnic groups has killed thousands of people.

Plateau state lies in the middle-belt region
between the mainly Muslim north and predominantly
Christian south of Nigeria, Africa's most populous
nation.

Nigeria's north has been hit by scores of attacks
blamed on the Islamist sect known as Boko Haram,
which also claimed responsibility for the August
suicide bombing of UN headquarters in the capital
Abuja which killed 24 people.

The Islamist group also claimed responsibility for
a string of bomb blasts on Christmas Eve 2010 in
Jos, but it was unclear whether it was involved in
Saturday night's attacks.

Source - AFP

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