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    January 18, 2012

Top Suspect in Nigerian Christmas Bombing Escapes Police

   A police statement Tuesday said the suspect was being escorted to
   another police station outside of Abuja when "suspected gang members"
   attacked and freed him.

   VOA News | Washington, DC
   A victim is tended to by medics in an ambulance following a blast at a
   Catholic church near Nigeria's capital Abuja, December 25, 2011. Photo:
   AP
   A victim is tended to by medics in an ambulance following a blast at a
   Catholic church near Nigeria's capital Abuja, December 25, 2011.

   Nigerian authorities say their top suspect in a deadly Christmas Day
   bombing at a Catholic church in the capital, Abuja, has escaped police
   custody.
   A police statement Tuesday said the suspect, Kabiru Sokoto, was being
   escorted to another police station outside of Abuja when "suspected
   gang members" attacked and freed him. The police commissioner who
   ordered the transfer has been suspended, and police say they are
   investigating the incident.
   Nigerian media also are raising questions about reports that Sokoto's
   arrest Saturday occurred while he was staying at a state governor's
   mansion in the capital.
   The Christmas Day bombing was one of a series of coordinated attacks
   that day that killed at least 39 people.
   Nigeria has seen escalating violence between Christians and Muslims.
   President Goodluck Jonathan recently declared a state of emergency in
   15 areas as part of his response to the unrest. The president also has
   deployed extra troops to the north, but attacks have continued.
   Authorities blame a group known as Boko Haram for hundreds of deaths in
   bombings and shootings over the past 18 months. The group has claimed
   responsibility for several of the attacks, including those on Christmas
   Day.
   The group is said to want wider implementation of sharia, or Islamic
   law, across Nigeria. It recently warned Christians in Muslim-majority
   northern Nigeria to leave the area.
   U.N. Human Rights chief Navi Pillay last week called on Nigerian
   political and religious leaders to conduct joint efforts to halt
   sectarian violence in the country. Pillay said it is especially
   important for Muslim and Christian leaders to "condemn all violence,"
   including retaliatory attacks.