Car Bomb Kills 10 at Nigeria Church

A suicide car bomber attacked a Catholic church today in the middle of Mass, killing at least 10 people in the latest violence targeting a church, a state official said. The bomb detonated as worshippers attended the final Mass of the day at St. Finbar's Catholic Church in Jos, a city where thousands have died in the last decade in religious and ethnic violence. Security at the gate of the church's compound stopped the suspicious car and the bomber detonated his explosives during an altercation that followed, said a Plateau state spokesman.

The blast damaged the church's roof, blew out its windows and destroyed a portion of the fence surrounding the church's compound. At least 10 people died, while many others were wounded in the blast, including soldiers who also had been stationed at the church. "He destroyed so many things," the spokesman said. No group immediately claimed responsibility though the city has been targeted in the past by a radical Islamist sect known as Boko Haram. The attack comes in the wake of the UK's botched attempted rescue of a British and an Italian hostage in the country on Thursday. (More Nigeria stories.)