Nigeria mosque massacre not sectarian: military

KADUNA: The Nigerian army has said an armed assault on a mosque in which 21 people died at the weekend was the result of a criminal feud and not sectarian violence.

The attack on Sunday was the bloodiest in a day of violence that also saw the restive northeastern city of Maiduguri rocked by a roadside blast and two separate gun attacks that killed at least four people including a local chief, according to residents and the military.

The army and locals said the pre-dawn raid on the mosque in the village of Dogon Dawa, in the northern state of Kaduna, was carried out by armed robbers engaged in a running feud with a local vigilante group.

Having been repelled by the community militia last week, the gang returned on Sunday, storming the mosque as people prepared for early morning prayers, killing some people inside the building and some outside.

"We have 21 killed. Several others have been taken to the hospital with injuries," said Musa Illela of the National Emergency Management Agency in Kaduna.

Suicide bombings at three churches in June, claimed by Islamist group Boko Haram, had sparked reprisal violence by Christian mobs who killed dozens of their Muslim neighbours and burned some of their victims' bodies. Muslim groups also formed mobs and killed several Christians.

But military spokesman Colonel Sani Usman told that Sunday's shooting was "a clear case of armed robbery", and described it as a "revenge" attack linked to the rivalry between the thieves and the vigilantes.

Asked about a potential religious element in the shootings, he said only that "the victims were coming from prayers" at the mosque.

Village resident Dauda Maikudi told that thieves regularly target the area as Dogon Dawa lies near a main road used by traders carrying goods and cash between the north and south of Africa's most populous country.

"It was a pre-dawn raid," he said. "The attackers... some of them dressed in police uniform, came into the village. They killed eight worshippers in the mosque and killed 13 other residents in the village."

"We believe they were armed robbers because this area has been bedevilled by armed robbers for years," he added.

Dogon Dawa lies about 70 kilometres (40 miles) from the state capital Kaduna city.

It was also unclear who was responsible for the bloodshed in Maiduguri.