The pastor of a church in northern Nigeria says gunmen burst into a Thursday night service, killing six worshippers and wounding 10.
Pastor Johnson Jauro of the Deeper Life church in Gombe says his wife is among the dead. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack and police have not yet commented.
The radical Islamic group Boko Haram, whose name means “Western education is a sin” in the Hausa language, has said it was responsible for other deadly attacks against Christians. They included the Christmas Day bombing of a Catholic church in Abuja that killed more than 30 people.
Nigeria is divided between a mainly Muslim north and a chiefly Christian south.
Boko Haram gave Christians in the north a three-day deadline this week to leave the area or face death.
Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency in 15 regions last week, closing parts of the borders with Niger, Chad, and Cameroon. Mr. Jonathan has vowed to crush Boko Haram. But his critics complain that he has done little to rein in the group.