by Isi Esene

More people have reportedly died as a result of the explosion which occurred last Sunday at the St. Andrew’s Anglican Church located within the premises of the Armed Forces Command and Staff College, AFCSC, Jaji, Kaduna State.

This bit of information was disclosed by the commandant of the College, Air Vice Marshal Ibrahim Abdullahi Kure,who took the governor of the State, Patrick Yakowa, on an inspection tour of the bomb site.

Kure hinted that the death toll had risen to 15 from the 10 initially made public by relevant agencies.

The governor said, “The bombing of a church within a premier institution like AFCSC is a wake-up call to all security agencies within the country to continue to sit up so as to fashion out a solution on how to curb the incidents of bombing or terrorism.

“The biggest project now in Nigeria should be the search for peace so that the enormous potentials of Nigeria can be fully harnessed. Religious bigotry or terrorism will only destroy Nigeria instead of building it.”

The commandant of the college reportedly told the governor that some of the victims who died were children but he stopped short of giving the exact number of the dead and injured.

The director, Nigeria Air Force, NAF, in the college, Air Commodore Alechenu Ekagbo, and some children were alleged to be among those who were seriously injured.

The governor promised to pay the medical bill of those receiving treatments for injuries in the hospital.

Unofficial sources say the number of those who died in the Sunday attack is far higher than the number being bandied around by government agencies.

No group is yet to claim responsibility for the church attack.