Nigeria: suicide bomb attack on Catholic church kills three

At least three people died on Sunday and 46 were injured when a suicide car bomb blew up in the carpark of a Catholic church in Bauchi City, northern Nigeria.

A police spokesman said the bomber, and a woman and child were killed. Two policemen guarding the building were among the injured. He said the devastation would have been far greater, if the bomber had succeeded in getting closer to the church. Police guards and barriers prevented this from happening.

Most Christian churches in northern Nigeria are being protected by security forces, police and parishioners themselves, because of the threat from the Islamic militant sect Boko Haram which has killed hundreds of people in the last three years.

The sect, which targets government and Christian building wants to enforces strict Sharia law, says it wants to revive an ancient Islamic caliphate in northern Nigeria that would practice strict Sharia law, has become the number one security threat to Africa's top oil producer, replacing militancy in the oil-rich southeast.