LAGOS, Nigeria
Gunmen believed to be Boko Haram militants killed 11 people, including a pastor, in a Friday night attack in Nigeria's northeastern Adamawa State, according to local residents.
"The attacker killed at least 11 people and this includes the pastor who later died of gunshot injuries during the sect's attack on Sabon Garin Yamdula," Ibrahim Kachala, a resident of the area, told Anadolu Agency on Saturday.
Yamdula is in Madagali local government area of Adamawa, which shares border with Born, a Boko Haram stronghold.
Chairman of Madagali council, Maina Ularamu, also confirmed the attack.
"Yes, some gunmen we believed are the same fighters of Boko Haram unleashed a new round of violence on Sabon Gari Yamdula on Friday night and killed - as at the moment - 11 people," he told AA on phone.
He said the militants tried to burn down the entire village but "were repelled by the youths of the area who came out with locally made guns."
"It was while repelling them that the security agents later arrived before the terrorists retreated."
The Sabon Gari attack came days after gunmen suspected to Boko Haram insurgents killed over 50 people in an attack on a church in the Chakawa village of Adamawa.
The latest attacks represent a newfound culture of targeting the Christian community.
Apart from skeletal attacks on churches in 2011 and another major one in northwest Kano in 2012, Boko Haram's attacks have been largely indiscriminate – refuting earlier claims that Boko Haram was an antichristian conspiracy.
Mosques had been attacked in the past and far more Muslims had fallen victims of the insurgency than Christian compatriots who are the minority in the region.
A hitherto peaceful organization that had preached against government corruption, Boko Haram suddenly turned violent in 2009 following the murder of group leader Mohamed Yusuf while in police custody.
In the years since, Boko Haram has been blamed for thousands of terrorist acts, including attacks on churches and security posts across Nigeria's northern region.
Although it claims to want an Islamist government in the region, Nigerian Muslims – most of whom reject Boko Haram as un-Islamic – have also been targeted by the militant group.
By Rafiu Ajakaye
englishnews@aa.com.tr
