Mubi, Nigeria, January 7, 2012 – Witnesses say gunmen have killed at least 17 people in northeastern Nigeria after storming a town hall where a Christian ethnic group was meeting.
Friday's violence targeting the Ignbo ethnic group is the latest in a series of attacks blamed on the Boko Haram Islamist sect. 
During a phone conference with journalists, a purported spokesman for the radical group claimed responsibility for the deadly outburst in the Mubi district of Adamawa state, near the border with Cameroon.  
The spokesman, known as Abu Qaqa, also said Boko Haram was responsible for an attack on a church in Gombe state late Thursday that killed six people and wounded 10.
Earlier this week, the group warned Christians in the largely Muslim north to leave the region in three days or face death.
Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for a number of recent attacks in Nigeria, including the Christmas day bombing of a Catholic church near Abuja that killed more than 30 people.
The sect, whose name means "Western education is a sin" in the Hausa language, has been blamed for dozens of deadly shootings and bombings mostly in the country's north.
It is fighting to implement a radical interpretation of Islamic law across Nigeria, which is divided between a primarily Muslim north and a mainly Christian south. 
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.

Source: VOA