A car laden with explosives detonated outside of a Catholic church today in a restive city in central Nigeria, killing at least three people and injuring others, a rescue official said.

HEAVILY armed troops and tanks patrolled the streets of Maiduguri in northeast Nigeria yesterday, witnesses said, after the president declared a state of emergency in parts of the north affected by an Islamist insurgency.

NIGERIA lacks competent leaders to tackle its security problems, a former military ruler said yesterday, after Christmas Day bomb attacks on churches by Islamist militants that killed more than two dozen people.

Terror attacks across Nigeria by a radical Muslim sect killed at least 39 people – the majority dying on the steps of a church after celebrating Christmas Mass as blood pooled in dust from a massive explosion.

Pope Benedict XVI issued pleas for peace to reign across the world during his traditional Christmas address today, a call marred by Muslim extremists who attacked Christian churches in Nigeria, including bombing a Catholic Mass.

At least 25 people were killed today when an explosion ripped through a Catholic church during Christmas Mass near Nigeria’s capital.

At least 25 people were killed today when an explosion ripped through a Catholic church during Christmas Mass near Nigeria’s capital city.

One person was killed and 11 others were wounded after bombs rocked three football viewing centres in the central city of Jos in Nigeria.

At least two bombs detonated near beer halls in a rough neighbourhood of a central Nigerian city beset by religious and ethnic violence, causing unknown injuries, witnesses said.

Religious rioting in the Nigeria city of Jos has killed at least 21 people in recent days, as authorities seem to be unable to curb rising violence.

John Obi Mikel’s father has been found after being kidnapped and held for 10 days, according to reports.

Contact has been made with the kidnappers of Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel’s father, according to reports in Nigeria.

John Obi Mikel’s brother admits he is still in the dark as to the whereabouts of their father, who has been abducted in Nigeria.

CHELSEA midfielder John Obi Mikel played in Sunday’s draw at Stoke despite knowing his father had been abducted back in his Nigeria homeland.

Soldiers in a central Nigerian city opened fire on university students protesting continuing violence between Christians and Muslims, witnesses said, with at least nine people killed in the ensuing violence.

Rioters set homes on fire and youths armed with machetes set up roadblocks through a Nigerian city plagued by violence between Christians and Muslims.

Muslim extremists may have planted a bomb which struck an army barracks in Nigeria’s capital, the country’s president said today, highlighting the dangers and confusion still gripping a nation beset by violence in recent weeks.

Dozens of armed men attacked a Nigerian church on Christmas Eve, dragging the pastor out of his home and shooting him to death, it has emerged today.

THE US government and human rights activists called yesterday for Nigeria to investigate and prosecute those responsible for the deaths of more than 200 unarmed people in renewed violence between Christians and Muslims.

THE Vatican led a wave of revulsion yesterday at the slaughter of hundreds of Christians in Nigeria, as survivors told of how the killers hacked victims to death after snaring them in animal traps.

Mass burials were being held today for the hundreds of victims slaughtered in religious revenge attacks in central Nigeria.

More than 200 people have died after renewed religious violence between Christians and Muslims in central Nigeria, it emerged today.

TROOPS struggled to crush an Islamic sect in northern Nigeria yesterday as the death toll from four days of clashes surged past 300 and thousands of people were forced from their homes.

Troop reinforcements on foot and in armoured personnel carriers appeared today to have quelled two days of violence that left hundreds dead in a central Nigerian city.

The top religious official at the main mosque in a riot-hit Nigerian city said the death toll has reached more than 300 people in two days of election-related violence.

Mobs burned homes and places of worship and more than 20 people were killed on a second day of post-election sectarian violence today in the central Nigerian city of Jos.

NIGERIA’S president declared a state of emergency yesterday in the state of Plateau, sacking the governor and dissolving the state legislature following Muslim and Christian fighting that has killed hundreds.

Nigeria’s civilian president declared sweeping state of emergency powers today in violence-torn central Plateau state, replacing the elected governor with a former military general and dissolving the state legislature.

ATTEMPTS to mediate a bloody conflict in Nigeria, where attacks by a predominantly Christian tribe on a Muslim village killed at least 500 remained bogged down yesterday.

Attempts to mediate a bloody conflict in Nigeria, where attacks by a predominantly Christian tribe on a Muslim village killed at least 500, were bogged down today.

Militants from a predominantly Christian tribe killed at least 500 people in attacks on a mainly Muslim village in central Nigeria, a senior Red Cross official said.

Tens of thousands of police and army troops guarded voting stations today as Nigerians cast ballots in tense municipal elections already marred by assassinations and other deadly attacks.

A Nigerian opposition politician today accused the ruling party of “massive rigging” in presidential elections that showed the incumbent Olusegun Obasanjo with an overwhelming lead.

At least 51 people have been killed during continued violence in the Nigerian city of Jos.

Dozens of people have reportedly been killed in Nigeria as rival Muslim and Christian mobs rampage through the streets of the northern city of Jos.