A suicide car bomber rammed into a church in Nigeria's northern city of Kaduna Sunday, killing at least seven people and triggering reprisal attacks that killed another three.

The bomber drove a jeep into St. Rita's church in Kaduna's Malali district during Sunday morning prayers causing a large explosion. Rescuers rushed the casualties to hospitals.

Witnesses said angry Christian youths armed with machetes and sticks roamed the streets after the bombing, beating three Muslims to death in the religiously-mixed city.

There has been no claim of the responsibility for the church blast.

Nigerian Islamist militant group Boko Haram has attacked several churches with bombs and guns in the past year. The group claimed responsibility for three church bombings in Kaduna state in June.

Those attacks killed at least 50 people and increased sectarian tensions in Kaduna, which is located on a dividing line between Nigeria's predominantly Muslim north and mostly Christian south.

Nigerian authorities blame Boko Haram for the killings of more than 1,500 people including police and government officials since 2009. The militants appear to be fighting for a strict form of Islamic law to be applied across northern Nigeria.