Two Nigeria churches bombed on Christmas Day

By the CNN Wire Staff

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: An eyewitness says there are at least 15 to 16 casualties at a Catholic church
• A second church is bombed hours later in the city of Jos
• The blasts follow attacks on five churches in Nigeria during last year's Christmas season

(CNN) -- Bomb blasts struck two churches in Nigeria on Sunday as worshippers were attending Christmas Day services, stirring memories of strikes against Nigerian churches during last year's Christmas season.
The first explosion struck near a Catholic church in Madala, west of the capital, the National Emergency Management Agency said.
A second explosion struck the Mountain of Fire Ministries church in the city of Jos, northeast of the capital, said journalist Hassan John, who witnessed the aftermath of the blast.
The emergency agency did not immediately provide details about the bombings, including the number of dead or wounded.
But Usman Abdallah Baba, who witnessed the first bombing in Madala, said there were at least 15 or 16 casualties and that authorities were still counting the toll.

He said local people were already blaming the violent extremist Muslim Boko Haram sect, which has targeted Christians as well as Muslims its members consider insufficiently Islamic.
Sunday's attack follows bombings at five churches in Jos last year that occurred while residents were celebrating Christmas Eve. The blasts killed dozens in Jos, which lies on a faith-based fault line between the Muslim-dominated north and the mainly Christian south.
Nigeria has the world's sixth largest Christian population -- about 80.5 million people as of 2010, according to a report published this month by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life in Washington.
That makes the country just under 51% Christian.
The latest attacks follow two days of clashes between militants and security forces in northern Nigeria, an army commander said.
Chief of Army Staff Azubuike Ihejirika said the clashes left three soldiers dead and several more wounded.
The fighting began Thursday between Boko Haram militants and the military in the Yobe state town of Damaturu, Ihejirika said.
"There was a major encounter with the Boko Haram in Damaturu," Ihejirika said Friday. "We lost three of our soldiers, seven were wounded. But we killed over 50 of their members."
Boko Haram translates from the local Hausa as "Western education is outlawed." The group has morphed into an insurgency responsible for dozens of attacks in Nigeria in the last two years.
Boko Haram's targets include police outposts and churches as well as places associated with "Western influence."