Gunmen kill three near Nigerian flashpoint city: Official

By AFP

An armour vehicle parks behind flames of fire following an explosion that rocked St Finbers Catholic Church in Jos on March 11, 2012. A suicide bomber blew himself up outside a Catholic church in central Nigeria, killing seven people and sparking panic in which security forces shot three others dead. AFP PHOTO

LAGOS,

Gunmen shot dead three Christians near the flashpoint central city of Jos, hours after 10 people were killed in a suicide bombing of a Catholic church, the Plateau state government said Monday.

The gunmen struck late Sunday in a village south of the city, where Christian-Muslim tensions were running high after the church attack, government spokesman Pam Ayuba told AFP.

"Unknown gunmen, in an apparent ambush late Sunday, waylaid and shot dead three people and injured two others -- all Christians -- in Chugwi village," Ayuba said.

"We suspect that the attackers were herdsmen. They left with the handsets of those killed and called numbers on their phones to alert their relations that they were responsible for the killings," he said from the scene of the attack.

Ayuba, who is a native of the Christian village, said no arrests have yet been made.

A suicide bomber blew himself up outside a Roman Catholic church in Jos on Sunday, killing seven people and sparking panic in which security forces shot three others dead.