Boko Haram Islamists 'kill dozens' in attack on churches in Nigeria

churches in Nigeria At least three churches reported burned down and dozens of men, women and children killed near Chibok by Islamist militants Suspected Boko Haram Islamists armed with explosives attacked a series of churches near Chibok on Sunday , the north-eastern Nigerian town where more than 200 teenage girls were kidnapped in April, witnesses said. Residents said dozens of people may have been killed in the raids on villages roughly six miles (10km) outside Chibok, but no one was able to offer an authoritative death toll and the military was not available to comment. Advertisement "The attackers went to churches with bombs and guns," Timothy James, a Chibok resident, said by phone. "From what I gathered, dozens of worshippers, including men, women and children were killed," he said, explaining that his information had come from people who fled the affected area and through phone calls. Enoch Mark, an outspoken Chibok leader since the 14 April kidnappings, gave a similar account, telling AFP in Lagos, "presently, as we are talking now, we are under attack." He added: "We cannot tell the number of dead bodies. I was told the attackers burnt at least three churches to the ground." Samuel Chibok, a survivor of the attack on Kautikiri village, said that about 20 men in a pick-up truck and motorcycles rolled into town. "Initially I thought they were military but when I came out, they were firing at people. I saw people fleeing and they burned our houses," he said, adding that some people had died in the attack, including two of his relatives. "Smoke was billowing from our town as I left." A local pro-government vigilante, who declined to be named, said residents had so far recovered 10 bodies from the village. Violence in Nigeria's north-east has been relentless in the past year, and has gained in intensity since April, the month that more than 200 schoolgirls were snatched by Boko Haram militants from Chibok. Efforts to free them, which have attracted estern support, have so far not succeeded.