Residents fearfully emerged from their homes to bury their dead in northeast Nigeria Saturday after a series of overnight attacks by a radical Muslim sect, Boko Haram, killed at least 69 people, The Associated Press reported. Three police stations, five churches and a bank in Damaturu and a military facility outside the city were attacked with bombs and gunfire, leaving behind rubble and burned military and police vehicles. At least 65 people perished in those attacks, and four more were killed by four bombs in Maiduguri, 80 miles away. Boko Haram claimed responsibility and promised more attacks. It seeks through violence to establish Sharia law in Nigeria, which is split between a mostly Christian south and mostly Muslim north, with a weak central government. The group has split into three factions, according to the AP, including the most radical, which is likely responsible for the increasingly violent attacks carried out in the sect’s name.
