Attack on northeast Nigeria church, market kills 10

KADUNA, Nigeria (Reuters) - Gunmen killed 10 people in an attack on a market and a church in northeast Nigeria before fleeing over the border to Cameroon, police said on Monday.

The attack took place on Sunday in the farming village of Njilang, Adamawa state, near the border, an area that has become a haven for Islamist sect Boko Haram.

"The gunmen opened fire in the village market, killing six persons, then proceeded to the church and opened fire there too, killing four more," Adamawa state police spokesman Mohammed Ibrahim said by telephone.

Nine others were being treated in hospital for wounds.

Ibrahim did not know who the culprits were. Although much of northeast Nigeria is plagued by Islamist militants, criminal gangs and ethnic militias also operate there.

The Boko Haram sect and offshoots such as the al Qaeda-linked Ansaru, as well as criminal networks, are seen as the main threat to stability in Nigeria, Africa's biggest energy producer. Its favorite targets have been churches, security forces and moderate Islamic clerics.

Violence in the north, particularly along the area where it borders Cameroon, Niger and Chad, shows no sign of letting up.

President Goodluck Jonathan has set up a committee to work out the terms of an amnesty for the rebels but their leader, Abubakar Shekau, has shown no interest in it so far.

(Reporting by Isaac Abrak; Additional reporting by Ibrahim Mshelizza and Lanre Ola in Maiduguri; Writing by Tim Cocks; Editing by Angus MacSwan)

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Nigeria violence worries US religious commission

Apr 15 (Reuters) - Leading money winners on the 2013 PGATour on Monday (U.S. unless stated): 1. Tiger Woods $4,139,600 2. Brandt Snedeker $3,137,920 3. Matt Kuchar $2,442,389 4. Adam Scott (Australia) $2,100,469 5. Steve Stricker $1,935,340 6. Phil Mickelson $1,764,680 7. Dustin Johnson $1,748,907 8. Jason Day $1,659,565 9. Hunter Mahan $1,553,965 10. Keegan Bradley $1,430,347 11. Charles Howell III $1,393,806 12. John Merrick $1,375,757 13. Russell Henley $1,331,434 14. Michael Thompson $1,310,709 15. Kevin Streelman $1,310,343 16. Bill Haas $1,271,553 17. Billy Horschel $1,254,224 18. ...

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Suspected Islamists raid Nigeria school, shoot teachers

KANO, Nigeria (Reuters) - Suspected Islamist gunmen on motorbikes stormed a primary school in Nigeria's main northern city of Kano on Tuesday and opened fire on teachers, wounding four of them, police said.

The attackers made teachers at Dan Maliki Primary School lie on the ground before shots rang out, a witness told Reuters.

No one claimed responsibility for the assault, but Islamist militant group Boko Haram - whose nickname means "Western education is sinful" in the northern Hausa language - has targeted schools before.

The movement has killed many hundreds in gun and bomb attacks since it launched an uprising against the government in 2009, opposing Western cultural influences and seeking to carve an Islamic state out of Africa's largest oil producer.

The gunmen attacked the head teacher and three other teachers, leaving them severely wounded, said police spokesman Magaji Musa Majiya. Boko Haram was the main suspect, he added.

None of the pupils was harmed.

"They made the teachers lie down on the ground, then there were gunshot sounds and everyone scampered to safety," said Hauwa Jinjiri, a trader working on the school premises who witnessed the attack.

The shooting came a day after a rival Islamist movement Ansaru posted a video it said showed the bodies of seven foreign construction workers it killed after abducting them from a remote northern town last month.

A purported spokesman for Boko Haram issued a statement on Tuesday denying claims by Nigerian security forces that they killed 20 Boko Haram militants when they repelled an attack on the Monguno barracks in the northeast a week before last.

The statement was delivered to local journalists via the same channel as a video showing the sect's leader Abubakar Shekau a week ago in which he rejected peace talks, suggesting it is from his faction.

"The truth is that we are the ones who triumphed in Monguno," said a written statement by a purported spokesman calling himself Abu Zinnira.

"The JTF succeeded in killing mostly innocent civilians, not our members. We lost three of our members but we succeeded in destroying their barracks and carting away their ammunition," he added.

Boko Haram had been without a spokesman since Abu Qaqa, believed to be a nickname, was killed by security forces late last year.

Militants Islamists in northern Nigeria, most prominently Boko Haram, have become the main threat to the stability of Africa's most populous country and second biggest economy.

Boko Haram normally target security forces, politicians or Christian worshippers, although it has hit schools in the past.

Arsonists suspected of being Boko Haram members burned down seven schools in northeastern Nigeria's Borno state a year ago.

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Suspected Islamists raid Nigeria school, shoot teachers

KANO, Nigeria (Reuters) - Suspected Islamist gunmen on motorbikes stormed a primary school in Nigeria's main northern city of Kano on Tuesday and opened fire on teachers, wounding four of them, police said.

The attackers made teachers at Dan Maliki Primary School lie on the ground before shots rang out, a witness told Reuters.

No one claimed responsibility for the assault, but Islamist militant group Boko Haram - whose nickname means "Western education is sinful" in the northern Hausa language - has targeted schools before.

The movement has killed many hundreds in gun and bomb attacks since it launched an uprising against the government in 2009, opposing Western cultural influences and seeking to carve an Islamic state out of Africa's largest oil producer.

The gunmen hit the headteacher and three other teachers, leaving them severely wounded, said police spokesman Magaji Musa Majiya. Boko Haram was the main suspect, he added.

None of the pupils were harmed.

"They made the teachers lie down on the ground, then there were gunshot sounds and everyone scampered to safety," said Hauwa Jinjiri, a trader working on the school premises who witnessed the attack.

The shooting came a day after a rival Islamist movement Ansaru posted a video it said showed the bodies of seven foreign construction workers it killed after abducting them from a remote northern town last month.

Militants Islamists in northern Nigeria, most prominently Boko Haram, have become the main threat to the stability of Africa's most populous country and second biggest economy.

Boko Haram normally target security forces, politicians or Christian worshippers, although it has hit schools in the past.

Arsonists suspected of being Boko Haram members burned down seven schools in northeastern Nigeria's Borno state a year ago.

(Reporting by Chukwuemeka Madu; Writing by Tim Cocks; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

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