Suicide bomber disguised in school uniform kills 48 students at northern Nigerian school ADVERTISING Suicide bomber disguised in school uniform kills 48 students at northern Nigerian school POTISKUM, Nigeria — Dis-guised in a school uniform, a suicide bomber set off
Suicide bomber disguised in school uniform kills 48 students at northern Nigerian school
POTISKUM, Nigeria — Dis-guised in a school uniform, a suicide bomber set off explosives hidden in a backpack during an assembly Monday at a high school in northern Nigeria, killing at least 48 students and wounding 79 others.
It was the latest attack by suspected Boko Haram militants who kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls earlier this year.
Soldiers rushed to the grisly scene, spattered with body parts, but were chased away by a stone-throwing crowd angry at the military’s inability to halt a 5-year-old Islamic insurgency that has targeted schools and killed thousands.
The Islamic militants — whose name means “Western education is sinful” in the local Hausa language — have intensified the tempo and deadliness of attacks since the government announced last month that the group had agreed to a cease-fire and that the schoolgirls would be released immediately. Boko Haram’s leader has denied any cease-fire deal and the girls have not been set free.
Monday’s bombing came one week after a suicide attack in Potiskum, the capital of Yobe state, killed 30 people taking part in a religious procession by moderate Muslims.
Stabbings in West Bank, Tel Aviv kill a woman and a soldier, increasing tensions in Israel
JERUSALEM — Palestinian assailants carried out stabbing attacks Monday in Tel Aviv and the West Bank, police said, killing an Israeli woman and a soldier as a wave of Arab unrest appeared to be gaining strength.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised a harsh response — a confrontational strategy that risks deepening weeks of turmoil that have shaken the country.
With the attacks believed to be the work of lone assailants, however, police could have a tough time preventing more of them.
Tensions between Israelis and Palestinians have been high following a 50-day Israeli war in July and August against militants in the Gaza Strip and increased friction over Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site — the hilltop complex revered by Jews as the Temple Mount and by Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary.
The friction has led to a series of bloody Palestinian attacks on Israeli targets.
US Catholic bishops at national meeting try to calm anxiety over church under Pope Francis
BALTIMORE — America’s Catholic bishops came together Monday to project an image of unity, after a Vatican meeting on the family unleashed an uproar over the direction of the church.
Last month’s gathering in Rome on more compassionate ministering to families featured open debate — alarming many traditional Catholics, who argued it would undermine public understanding of church teaching. Pope Francis encouraged a free exchange of ideas at the assembly, or synod, in contrast to previous years, when such events were tightly scripted.
At a meeting Monday in Baltimore, Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, signaled there was no conflict between a gentler approach and upholding church orthodoxy. Kurtz cited his home visits to parishioners, where he wouldn’t give them “a list of rules to follow firsthand,” but would instead “spend time with them trying to appreciate the good that I saw in their hearts,” before inviting them to follow Christ.
“Such an approach isn’t in opposition to church teachings. It’s an affirmation of them,” said Kurtz, who attended the Vatican gathering.
Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington, who also participated in the Vatican gathering, emphasized that last month’s meeting was only the start of a discussion before a larger gathering on the family next year, where bishops will more concretely advise the pope on developing any new church practices. New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan said the divisiveness he read in media accounts did not reflect the collegial discussion inside the event.
By wire sources
