The head of Nigeria's Christians has warned that attacks on the faithful that have killed more than 80 people suggest "religious cleansing" and compared it to the run-up to the 1960s civil war.
The intensifying violence as well as warnings from Christian leaders that they will defend themselves come at a crucial moment for Nigeria, with the country also facing nation-wide strikes on Monday over soaring fuel prices.
The stark warning from Ayo Oritsejafor, head of the Christian Association of Nigeria, on Saturday came with at least six gun and bomb attacks targeting Christians since Christmas having killed more than 80 people.
Attacks have seen victims gunned down while their eyes were closed in prayer in church, caught up in a gruesome bomb blast while leaving Christmas services and shot while gathering to mourn the death of a friend.
In the latest violence, residents said gunmen shot dead three people believed to be Christians as they were playing poker on Saturday night in the north-eastern town of Biu.
Islamist group Boko Haram has claimed most of the violence, which has sparked fears of a wider religious conflict in a country whose 160 million population is roughly divided between a mainly Muslim north and predominantly Christian south.
A purported spokesman for the group a week ago gave Christians living in the north a three-day ultimatum to leave the region. In claiming subsequent attacks, the spokesman said they were in response to the ultimatum.
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