It was a Holy Communion Sunday and a special thanksgiving day at the St. Rita's Catholic Church in Malali area of Kaduna, a state in the north-central part of Nigeria. Songs of praise had been rendered. The sermon had been delivered by the priest. The well-attended Sunday mass was about faith and healing.

Then, came the time for the Sacrament, a commemoration of the Last Supper by Jesus Christ, according to Christians' belief. The priest had said his prayers. The congregation were longing gleefully for the Holy Communion. The children were in the Sunday School section, learning and rejoicing.

The atmosphere was serene. Apparently, the security operatives were in a relaxed mood. Everything seemed to be going smoothly and as expected in a church. No one had the inkling that tragedy, death, gnashing of teeth, sorrow and distasteful tears were lurking around.

Suddenly, the devil appeared, though not in person. The messenger of death came in a bomb-laden Honda sports utility vehicle (SUV). He had a mission to complete. He appeared as a lone suicide bomber keen on sending many others to their early graves. His mission was to kill the innocent worshippers including women and children. For some of the victims, it was a doomsday!

Accosted and refused entry by those manning the gate to the church premises, survivors said the suicide bomber who had rosary round his neck had turned back as if he was leaving when suddenly he reversed the vehicle, slammed on its throttle and rammed into a fence guiding the children section and the choir cage.

A loud blast was heard. The church premises shook mightily as if it had been hit like the historic 9.5 magnitude of earthquake recorded in Chile some 52 years ago. It was a heavy explosion, according to survivors of the tragic blast that rocked the Catholic Church on Sunday at about 8.45 a.m. local time. Again, Kaduna plunged into undue mourning as the suicide bomb agent had fulfilled his target: to kill and suck more blood.

In the bomb attack, eight people were killed and over 100 were injured, according to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA). Officials of the emergency agency said at least three people died instantly, while the other deaths were recorded at some four or more health facilities chosen for victims of the attack.

Among the injured, was the parish priest, Reverend Father Bonni, who was blessing the sacrament when the tragedy struck.

Security agents had a hectic day trying to cordon-off the area. Literally, sorrow, tears and blood were amplified in full glare at a once cheerful chapel where the communion bread became a feast of anguish and pain due to the bombing incident.

Three corpses and 35 injured persons were taken to the 44 Army Reference Hospital, according to rescue officials. Four dead bodies and over 88 injured persons were recorded at Barau Dikko Specialist Hospital while 14 injured persons were taken to Saint Gerard Catholic Hospital. One body and 14 injured persons were recorded at Garkuwa Hospital, three injured persons were rushed to Giwa Hospital and two injured persons were taken to Yusuf Dantsoho Hospital.

"We are still looking for the Reverend Father. He sustained serious injuries on the face but we don't know which hospital he has been taken to. We cannot say for now whether he survived the attack or not. We don't know where he is now," said Ishaku James, one of the survivors of the bomb attack.

Giving his account of the incident, Ishaku said the priest was saying "it is well, it is well, it is well", while his face was covered with blood. "Even if there were security men, they couldn' t have stopped the bomber because he came driving with force. The car used by the bomber got burnt, and the body of the bomber was dangling against the wall of the church," he said.

Mostly affected in the attack were the choristers, according to Ezekiel Daniang, a survivor and choir leader at the Catholic Church. In his own account, two members of the choir had died instantly while scores of them sustained various degree of injuries.

"As usual, we sing in between mass activities. I had just finished conducting one of such interval songs and I left to attend to another function within the church when the incident occurred," he narrated.

But for the parish priest who shoved him aside, Emmanuel Thomas, an altar boy in the church, said he would have suffered more injuries than he did. "When we heard the first sound, the priest thought it was a spark of light. Then suddenly a heavy blast occurred, crushing the wall of the church and people started running. The next place I found myself was in the hospital," he said.

One survivor, Veronica Johnson, lamented the extent of the damage caused by the attack, while calling on government to put an end to the incessant bombings plaguing the northern and central part of Nigeria.

"I saw some bodies lying down flat within the church premises. All of my four children were in the church when the explosion occurred, but my husband was not in the church. All my children sustained injuries. One is just four months old," she said amid tears.

Extremely saddened by the explosion, Nigeria's president Goodluck Jonathan condemned the suicide bomb attack, calling it "barbaric, cruel and uncalled for."

According to him, the apparent objective of the criminal and unpatriotic elements and forces behind the attack is to steer backward, the wheel of progress recorded so far by his government.

"We have recorded some progress in the fight against terrorism in the country, but it is obvious that these people do not mean well for Nigeria and its unity and development," said the president, while lampooning perpetrators of the attack.

Speaker of Nigeria's parliament Aminu Tambuwal, among other citizens of the West African nation, condemned the attack on a church in strong terms, urging the Nigerian populace to do their best possible to resist further bloodletting.

"The attack on innocent worshippers was both callous and senseless," he said, noting it occurred barely two days after the Muslim Eid-el-Kabir festival.

So far, no group has claimed responsibility for the Sunday morning bomb attack. However, similar attacks had been perpetrated by the Islamic Boko Haram sect which operates mainly in northern and central parts of Nigeria. Over 1,500 people have been killed since 2009 when the sect launched its violent attacks in northern Nigeria, according to the latest report by the Human Rights Watch (HRW).

When Nigeria will wriggle out of the spell of bloodshed in which deeper and deeper it has plunged, is a question underlying local and international concern about the waste of lives and property in the country.