Corpses removed from rooftops -' Parish Priest of bombed church

The Parish Priest of Saint Theresas Catholic Church, Madalla near Suleija in Niger State, Rev. Fr. Isaac Achi, said on Sunday that many corpses were removed from the roofs of the church and other buildings in the neighbourhood.Achi, in a short interview with our correspondent, however, said it was too early for him to give the casualty figure.He added that a 13-year-old girl lost her parents and sisters in the blast.Excerpts of the interview with the cleric:Sir, can you give us an account of what happened'What you have seen is exactly what happened in the morning. At about 8am when all Christian faithful in this community gathered here (Saint Theresas Catholic Church) to celebrate the Christmas, the Nativity and coming of Jesus Christ, something happened at the close of the mass.Some people left earlier and others were trapped by the bomb blast that killed many people. That was how it started. I was not around to officiate the mass; it was my Assistant, Rev. Fr. Christopher Jatto, that officiated. So I need to thank God because there would have been more deaths.But because I have a tradition to celebrate Christmas joyfully, I tell people to visit the infant child, Jesus at the Manger and there they would be given some souvenirs from the little child, Jesus. So that was the souvenir that Fr. Jatto spoke to them to receive and it was in the course of receiving the souvenir that many of them remained inside the church. Those who left earlier were mostly affected by this bomb explosion.How many casualties that were members of the church have you been able to identify'We have not been able to identify any for now because I hate giving a wrong figures. But to the best of my knowledge, so many people died; the bomb threw some people from one end of the road to another. Some who were in their vehicles could not escape because they were trapped. They were burnt in their vehicles. A 13-year-old child, Nancy Maduka, from Enugu State, lost her parents and her sisters. She is the only survivor in the family.One other woman who couldnt come to the church lost her husband and all her children; so many of them like that. If you had come here around 8:15 am you would have seen corpses thrown around this place. Some corpses had to be removed from the roofs of buildings in the neighbourhood. So this is what we can say for now.The others that were rushed to the hospital. Some could not get to the hospital and so they died. We have some of our parishioners in Gwagwalada, some in Kubwa, Suleja, Zuba and others in local hospitals here in Madalla. I cannot give any figure until I am able to call the zonal community leaders to come and tell me what they saw.Already, I have sent a word to them to go from house to house and check who is missing and who is not missing.
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