20 dead in Nigerian church bombing

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KANO, Nigeria, April 29 (UPI) -- Alleged Muslim radicals opened fire on people attempting to flee a Nigerian church after it was bombed Sunday, killing 20, officials said.

As many as three bombs fashioned from soda cans went off in the old campus section of Bayero University, Kano, in the area where Christian students hold worship services on Sundays, This Day reported. One person died in the bombing and many others were injured.

As worshipers attempted to leave the bombed building, assailants waiting outside opened fire, killing another 19 people, The Guardian reported.

"I was inside and we were preparing for a prayer when there was the sound of motorbikes driving fast and then the first explosion," said one student, who gave her name only as Grace.

"Everything then happened very fast. There were more bombs, I think, and so many gunshots, there was too much noise and people were panicking."

Though no group has come forward claiming responsibility for the attack, the use of motorcycles, small improvised explosives and targeted gunfire bore the hallmarks of Boko Haram, known al Qaida-linked insurgents, The Guardian reported. The group was responsible for a similar attack at in Abuja on Christmas Day that killed 44 people.

The attack comes three days after two office buildings in Abuja and Kaduna belonging to This Day newspapers were attacked by suicide bombers, resulting in six deaths.