Nigeria denies killing of 15 Christian worshipers
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria - The Nigerian government on Tuesday denied reports claiming that 15 Christian worshipers were killed in an outskirt of northeast Borno State on Sunday.
Local media had on Monday quoted a rescue officer as saying that attackers stormed a church service in Kiyak village in the outskirts of Chibok, killing another set of 15 worshipers.
Spokesperson for the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) Yushau Shuaib said in a statement that though some of the reports claimed a source from the agency provided the information, the agency not only contacted the same officer who denied it in its entirety, it also assigned a special team to investigate and verify the allegation which was later found to be unsubstantiated and untrue.
He said the team however discovered that two people were killed by unidentified gunmen around the area on Sunday and whose bodies had been deposited in a hospital.
The victims were a security man and a bystander, he said, noting that the agency could not classify the victims as Muslims or Christians because most of the attacks in that northeast axis are nondiscriminatory between religion, tribe or section of the victims.
Borno State, located in Nigeria's northeastern region, is a Boko Haram flashpoint, where the Nigerian government had declared and lifted some curfews due to wave of attacks.
Waves of attack believed to be perpetrated by the Boko Haram sect have been reported in the northern and central parts of Nigeria.
The Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in its latest report that more than 1,500 people, including women and children, had been killed in various attacks by the Boko Haram sect since 2009.
