Updated on
Summary Militants attacked two churches in Nigeria Sunday, spraying bullets, killing several people.
Militants attacked two churches in north and central Nigeria on Sunday, spraying the congregation of one with bullets, killing several people, and blowing up a car in a suicide bombing at the other.The Islamist group Boko Haram, which says it is fighting to reinstate an Islamic caliphate in mostly Muslim northern Nigeria, has stepped up deadly bombings and shootings against Christian places of worship this year.This follows its high profile strikes against churches on Christmas Day in December 2011 and on Christmas Eve in 2010.Experts say the increasing anti-Christian attacks by the sect, which also often targets security forces and establishment figures, appear partly aimed at trying to ignite sectarian conflict in Africas most populous country of 160 million people, split roughly evenly between Christians and Muslims.Although Nigerias Christian and Muslim communities mostly live in peace, periodic flareups of sectarian violence have killed hundreds since independence from Britain in 1960. Many of the recent attacks have targeted the volatile central city of Jos, long a Christian-Muslim flashpoint.
