Gunmen storm Nigerian pubs, kill 4

Nigeria, Jan 14: Gunmen attacked two pubs in northeastern Nigeria, killing four people, amid a series of sectarian violence linked to a radical Islamist organisation in the country, police said.

Gunmen on motorbikes stormed into a pub and killed two persons yesterday, said Ahmed Mohammed, the Gombe state police spokesman.

Altine Daniel, the police spokesperson for neighbouing Adamawa state, said similar style was used in an attack that saw two dead and a police officer wounded at a drinking joint in Yola, the state capital. They confirmed that the assailants escaped after the shooting.

The attacks bore the signature of Islamic radical group, Boko Haram, which has been carrying out series of bombings and attacks in the oil rich African country's northern region.

It has been waging a bloody conflict to install an Islamic government and Sharia rule in the country. A suicide bomb attack by the group at the United Nations headquarters in Abuja in July killed 26 persons.

The activities of the Boko Haram has raised fears of religious conflict in the country since a Christmas day bombing that killed not fewer than 40 persons in a Christian church and several part of the north.

The 150-million Nigeria has Muslim and Christian population, with Muslims predominant in the north while Christians mostly live in the South.

PTI