Nigeria Islamists slaughter 10 Christians in north

KANO, Nigeria – Ten Christians had their throats slit and militants killed two police officers during attacks on churches and border posts in a fresh wave of violence in northern Nigeria, officials reported Sunday.

The Islamist group Boko Haram was thought to be behind the slaughter of the Christians late on Saturday in the northern town of Chibok, local officials said.

“The attackers came in around 9:00 pm chanting ‘Allahu Akbar’, which made us suspect they are Boko Haram,” said a local government official on condition of anonymity.

“They moved into selected homes in the predominantly Christian part of the town and slaughtered 10 people like sheep,” the official added.

“Who else apart from Boko Haram members would go into homes and slit the throats of 10 people?” said another local official.

“They came armed with guns but decided to butcher their victims.”

Local resident Ezekiel Damina said: “The men came in large numbers and went into homes which… were carefully selected, and slaughtered 10 people while shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ (God is Greatest).

“They then set houses in the area on fire. They just sacked the neighbourhood.”

The group was also suspected of being behind a series of attacks Sunday on churches and border posts in northeastern Nigeria, which according to residents left at least two policemen dead.

Around 50 gunmen in cars and on motorcycles carried out attacks on three churches and border posts with neighbouring Cameroon, opening fire on police, residents said.

Among the security posts burned were offices for immigration, customs and the secret police and a quarantine building in the city of Gamboru Ngala, about 140 kilometers (80 miles) from the Boko Haram stronghold of Maiduguri.

Gunmen went into town “chanting ‘Allahu Akbar’ and burned down the divisional police station and three churches,” said Hamidu Ahmad, a resident.

“I saw two bodies in police uniform not far from the police station. One of them was sprawled by the roadside while the other was seated in a police van,” another resident, Sani Kani said.

Another local witness gave the same report but said it was not immediately clear whether worshippers had been in the churches at the time of the attacks.

Residents reported gun battles between the assailants and police reinforcements who arrived from Maiduguri.

Police and the army could not immediately be reached for comment.

Boko Haram has often targeted churches in its bloody insurgency, as well as police and other symbols of the establishment in Nigeria.

On November 25, 11 people were killed in twin suicide bombings targeting a church at a military barracks in the northern town of Jaji.

Violence linked to the Boko Haram insurgency in northern and central Nigeria is believed to have left some 3,000 people dead since 2009, including killings by the security forces.

Two weeks ago leaflets were circulated around Gamboru Ngala by suspected Islamists saying that women were required to wear the Muslim veil and banning the sale of cigarettes, residents said.

“A tailor named Adamu was shot dead last week by some suspected Boko Haram members for making clothes for women the group consider obscene,” said resident Hajara Umar.

Boko Haram, which can be loosely translated from the northern Hausa language as “Western education is a sin”, has claimed many attacks in northern and central parts of Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country and top oil producer.

Nigeria’s population of some 160 million is roughly divided between the mainly Muslim north and the predominantly Christian south.