KANO (AFP) – Suspected Boko Haram Islamists on Thursday opened fire in a church in Nigeria’s restive northeast, killing the pastor and his two children before setting fire to the building and fleeing, the military said.
Boko Haram, which has said it is fighting to create an Islamic state in mainly Muslim northern Nigeria, has repeatedly attacked churches in its four-year insurgency.
“Unknown gunmen suspected to be Boko Haram terrorists attacked” the church in Yobe state early on Thursday, area military spokesman Eli Lazarus said in a statement.
“During the attack, a pastor and his two children were killed,” he said.
The church “and two other houses in the community were burnt by the gunmen before fleeing the scene of the incident,” the statement further said.
The killings occurred in the town of Dorawa, some 30 kilometres (18 miles) from the site of a brutal school attack in July that saw dozens of students slaughtered.
Yobe was one of three northeastern states placed under a state of emergency in mid-May as the military launched a major offensive aimed at crushing Boko Haram.
Yobe has seen less violence than neighbouring Borno state, Boko Haram’s base, but the insurgents have carried out major attacks there.
Attacks on churches, including suicide bombings, were once a near weekly occurence but have declined in recent months.
Since the emergency measures were imposed Boko Haram has largely targeted civilians as well as vigilante groups which have formed to help the military.
The latest violence came after the emergence of a new video, in which a man who resembles Boko Haram’s leader mocked reports of his possible death.
Abubakar Shekau, declared a global terrorist by the United States, taunted the regional military spokesman who said he “may have been” fatally wounded in a clash on June 30.
While Shekau’s whereabouts and condition are unknown, the violence has continued, casting doubt on the success of the four-month-old military offensive.
The Boko Haram conflict was earlier this year estimated to have killed more than 3,600 people, including deaths caused by the security forces. The current toll is likely much higher.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/09/pastor-two-kids-killed-as-boko-haram-islamists-open-fire-in-church/

God, when will all this stop in Nigeria?
R I P to the dead.

R.I.P to the dead. But has the military not really failed in this war. It is not enough to tag any atrocity to boko haram in order to cover up you incompetence. Boko haram or not, your work there is to avert such situation. People are dying because they have trust in the military if not most of them would have relocated long ago. So the military should just accept defeat and ask people to leave these places or dance to the tune of the insurgent.

Wsdm: R.I.P to the dead. But has the military not really failed in this war. It is not enough to tag any atrocity to boko haram in order to cover up you incompetence. Boko haram or not, your work there is to avert such situation. People are dying because they have trust in the military if not most of them would have relocated long ago. So the military should just accept defeat and ask people to leave these places or dance to the tune of the insurgent.

True, they should tell e'ryone to leave those parts of the country.
Imagine this...."The Boko Haram conflict was earlier this year estimated to have killed more than 3,600 people, including deaths caused by the security forces"... God help Nigeria.

Scavengers called boko haram at it again! God help and deliver us all from the hands of this blood thirsty terrorist.
Death all over the land. Human lives are been killed at will. Things getting worse when you begin to think everything is fine. A total cleansing of our land is all we ask from you O Lord.

RIP Pastor and the kids that lost their lives. Your killers shall never go unpunished (amen)

I dislike the way press and government put the number of people killed by the Boko haram since they started.Last year it was 3600 but till date it is still 3600. Have they forgotten that since last week and last two weeks alone? soldiers claimed they killed 50 boko haram through air, another another one 40 soldiers killed many missing, the next day we heared 150 Boko haram killed, another day Boko haram killed 162 and Boko haram killed 2 soldiers 3 police men and 28 villagers. If you calculate these killings in Maiduri alone add them with the daily killings in Adamawa, yobe and Kano you will discover that we are really in war,Government is only reducing the numbers of death. It is better we call on International communites to help us because it is getting worst.

Onyejiuwa okoh: I dislike the way press and government put the number of people killed by the Boko haram since they started.Last year it was 3600 but till date it is still 3600. Have they forgotten that since last week and last two weeks alone? soldiers claimed they killed 50 boko haram through air, another another one 40 soldiers killed many missing, the next day we heared 150 Boko haram killed, another day Boko haram killed 162 and Boko haram killed 2 soldiers 3 police men and 28 villagers. If you calculate these killings in Maiduri alone add them with the daily killings in Adamawa, yobe and Kano you will discover that we are really in war,Government is only reducing the numbers of death. It is better we call on International communites to help us because it is getting worst.

We play politics with almost e'rything in this country.. Even with the actual number of casualties (playing politics with the dead). To be candid, we should be counting close to 10,000 people lost to Boko Haram since 2009. So sad!!

I thought they said they don't kill kids. Useless people; I still have faith in the military. It took America a decade before they could get Osama.