6 dead, others wounded after attack on church in northeast Nigeria amid sect violence

AP

6 January 2012

6 dead, others wounded after attack on church in northeast Nigeria amid sect violence

6 dead, others wounded in Nigeria church attack

Gunmen attacked a church in northeast Nigeria during a prayer service, spraying the congregation with gunfire and killing at least six people including the pastor's wife.

The assault late Thursday comes just weeks after a radical Muslim sect claimed responsibility for a series of deadly bombings at churches in northern Nigeria.

Gombe state police spokesman Ahmed Muhammad confirmed Friday that six people died following the shootings at the Deeper Life Church in Gombe, and that eight others were wounded.

The oil-rich nation's president recently put regions of the country under a state of emergency due to the threat, but that did not include Gombe.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but suspicion immediately fell on the radical Muslim sect known as Boko Haram. The sect has carried out increasingly sophisticated and bloody attacks in its campaign to implement strict Shariah law across Nigeria, a multiethnic nation of more than 160 million people.