‘NIGERIAN TALIBAN’ BOMBINGS KILL DOZENS IN CHRISTMAS DAY CHURCH ATTACKS

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — An explosion ripped through a Catholic church during Christmas Mass near Nigeria’s capital Sunday, killing at least 25 people there, officials said. A radical Muslim sect claimed the attack and another bombing near a church in the restive city of Jos, as explosions also struck the nation’s northeast.

The Christmas Day attacks show the growing national ambition of the sect known as Boko Haram — dubbed the “Nigerian Taliban” — which is responsible for at least 495 killings this year alone, according to an Associated Press count. The assaults come a year after a series of Christmas Eve bombings in Jos claimed by the militants left at least 32 dead and 74 wounded.

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