20111231
AFP
The death toll from a wave of attacks blamed on Islamist group Boko Haram targeting churches and other locations on Christmas day in Nigeria has risen to at least 49, a church official said Friday.

"The number of deaths as of yesterday was 43, but plus one today, making 44," said Father Isaac Achi of St. Theresa Catholic Church in Madalla near the capital Abuja, where the bloodiest attack took place.

An emergency source said around 50 were also wounded there.

The previous toll at St. Theresa had been 37 dead. Five others were killed nationwide, including a policeman in a shootout following a bomb attack on a church in the central city of Jos.

Three security agents and a suicide bomber were killed in an attack the same day in the northeastern city of Damaturu.

Boko Haram has been blamed for scores of attacks in Nigeria, including an August suicide bombing of UN headquarters in Abuja that killed at least 25, but the Christmas bombs at churches sparked fears of reprisals from Christians.

Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, is roughly divided between a mainly Muslim north and predominately Christian south.

Unknown attackers threw a bomb into an Arabic school in the southern mainly Christian Delta state on Tuesday, wounding six children and an adult.

On Friday, an explosion rocked an area near a mosque in the northeastern city of Maiduguri, killing four people, according to the military and a resident.

Christian leaders have warned that they will have to defend themselves if authorities do not address the spiralling violence.

President Goodluck Jonathan summoned the nation's security chiefs for talks on Thursday, with authorities so far unable to stop violence blamed on Boko Haram despite heavy-handed military raids.