A Catholic cathedral in northern
Nigeria was seriously damaged in an explosion caused by a bomb believed
to have been set off by a group of Muslim extremists, the Vatican's
missionary news agency reported.
Eleven people were killed and two police stations were also hit in the
June 7 bombing in Maiduguri, capital of Borno state in northeastern
Nigeria, the Fides news agency said.
Windows and doors of St. Patrick's Cathedral were destroyed, the agency
said, quoting Maiduguri Bishop Oliver Doeme.
The bishop said the
explosion had rocked the whole building.
Fides said local authorities had attributed a string of attacks in
northern Nigeria, including the one in Maiduguri, to an extremist Muslim
group called Boko Haram.
Bishop Doeme told Fides that "the situation in Maiduguri is very tense"
and that another Catholic church and a school had been damaged by a bomb
explosion two weeks earlier.
Northern Nigeria has been the scene of extreme violence between Muslims
and Christians in recent years.
Some Nigerian bishops have said,
however, that the conflict is due more to economic and social -- rather
than religious -- differences.