Christian worship subdued by church bombs

Some churches in the North, usually packed with worshippers, were almost empty on Sunday morning and many people stayed away in other parts of the country after a week of violence in religiously-mixed Kaduna state.

At least 92 people were killed in the tit-for-tat attacks between Muslims and Christians in Kaduna last week, sparked by suicide bombings at three churches last Sunday that killed 19 people and were blamed on Islamist sect Boko Haram.

"We are still traumatised over the attacks and have no intention to attend church service until total peace and normalcy are restored,” Anthonia Eke told Reuters in Kano.

"God understands our situation here so we have decided to pray at home. Only he can end this pain.”

There were fewer than usual at churches in the capital Abuja, which sits in the centre of the country where the largely Muslim north and mostly Christian south meet.

But hundreds still queued to pass through military checkpoints outside the largest churches in Abuja, and hundreds of thousands of worshippers around the country were determined to attend regardless of the risks. (...)