Gunmen hit Nigerian church
Source: Agencies |
January 7, 2012, Saturday
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Print Edition
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SUSPECTED gunmen from a radical Muslim sect attacked a town hall yesterday in rural northeast Nigeria, killing at least 20 people who had gathered for a meeting of a Christian ethnic group, police said.
The attack at noon targeted a town hall where Christian Igbo people were holding a meeting, with gunmen chanting "God is great" as they fired Kalashnikov rifles.
The killings come after a spokesman for the sect known as Boko Haram threatened to begin specifically targeting Christians living in the country's Muslim north in its increasingly bloody sectarian fight with Nigeria's weak central government. That could further inflame religious tensions in an uneasy nation already gripped by civil unrest.
The attack occurred in Mubi, Adamawa state, as Igbo traders held a meeting before opening up their shops for business, local police commissioner Ade T. Shinaba said.
"We started hearing many gunshots through the windows," said Okey Raymond, 48, who attended the meeting. "Everyone scampered for safety, but the gunmen chanted: 'God is great, God is great' while shooting at us."
Raymond said he hid under a table and escaped out a back door. The gunmen also carried knives and machetes, the police commissioner said.
No arrests have been made in the attack, which left at least another 15 people wounded.
Yesterday's attack comes after gunmen attacked a church in the northeast Nigeria city of Gombe during a prayer service on Thursday night, killing at least six people.
The attack at noon targeted a town hall where Christian Igbo people were holding a meeting, with gunmen chanting "God is great" as they fired Kalashnikov rifles.
The killings come after a spokesman for the sect known as Boko Haram threatened to begin specifically targeting Christians living in the country's Muslim north in its increasingly bloody sectarian fight with Nigeria's weak central government. That could further inflame religious tensions in an uneasy nation already gripped by civil unrest.
The attack occurred in Mubi, Adamawa state, as Igbo traders held a meeting before opening up their shops for business, local police commissioner Ade T. Shinaba said.
"We started hearing many gunshots through the windows," said Okey Raymond, 48, who attended the meeting. "Everyone scampered for safety, but the gunmen chanted: 'God is great, God is great' while shooting at us."
Raymond said he hid under a table and escaped out a back door. The gunmen also carried knives and machetes, the police commissioner said.
No arrests have been made in the attack, which left at least another 15 people wounded.
Yesterday's attack comes after gunmen attacked a church in the northeast Nigeria city of Gombe during a prayer service on Thursday night, killing at least six people.
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