At least 10 people have been killed in Nigeria after rebels attacked a series of churches in two villages near Chibok, the northeastern town where more than 200 schoolgirls were kidnapped in April, survivors have said.
Residents said that dozens of people may have been killed on Sunday in the raids on villages roughly 10km outside of Chibok, but no one was able to offer an authoritative death toll.
The military have been deployed and local officials said that the death toll was likely to rise.
“The attackers went to churches with bombs and guns,” Timothy James, a Chibok resident, said by phone.
Enoch Mark, an outspoken Chibok leader since the April 14 abductions, gave a similar account, telling the AFP in Lagos, “presently, as we are talking now, we are under attack”.
“We cannot tell the number of dead bodies,” he added. “I was told the attackers burnt at least three churches to the ground.”