February 28, 2012
Open Doors confirms the death of at least four people and the injuring of more than 40 in a suicide bomb attack at a worship service in Jos, Nigeria, on Feb. 26. Among the dead was a young girl. The Islamist sect Boko Haram claimed responsibility for the bombing, in which two terrorists drove their car through the security checkpoint of the Jos Church of Christ in Nigeria, ignoring a guard who signaled for them to stop. Security opened fire on the trespassers, killing one and injuring the second before the bombs detonated. Although the bombers aimed to drive into the church, the bombs detonated 15 meters away; if they had succeeded in their primary intentions, many more would have been killed. "The increasingly intentional activity of Boko Haram is now taking on the characteristics of a real war," said Open Doors USA president Dr. Carl Moeller. "These are not random attacks, as they're often characterized in the media. They're really intentional, and they're designed with one purpose in mind: the elimination of Christianity. Jos is often described as a religious fault line between the mostly Muslim north and mostly Christian south."
