Seven Dead after Two New Attacks by Nigeria Islamists

Nigerian Islamists shot dead a seven-year-old girl during a failed attempt to kill her policeman father hours after group members killed three in a separate raid, the army and police said Monday.

Suspected members of Boko Haram, who have repeatedly targeted Nigeria's security services, fired shots into the house of a police sergeant in the northeastern town of Potiskum late Sunday, a police spokesman in Yobe State, Toyin Gbadigisin, told AFP.

"They fired shots at him while sitting in the midst of his family. He managed to avoid the bullets and scaled over the fence," Gbadigisin said.

"The gunmen shot dead his seven-year-old-daughter and seriously injured another 12-year-old daughter and a 10-year-old-son who are now in hospital."

In a separate attack in the northeastern town of Dikwa around 1:30 am (0030 GMT) on Monday, Boko Haram gunmen killed a policeman, a civilian and a local politician in coordinated attacks, the army said in a text message sent to AFP.

The attackers targeted a police station, a bank and a hotel but were repelled by army troops, according to Lieutenant Colonel Sagir Musa, spokesman of the Joint Task Force (JTF) in Borno State.

"Three Boko Haram terrorists were killed and many escaped with bullet wounds," Musa said.

A car bombing near a church in the northern city of Kaduna on Easter Sunday killed at least 20 people.

Boko Haram has not claimed the attack, but in targeting Christians, the strike resembled much of the recent violence blamed on the group, which has carried out scores of attacks across Nigeria's restive north.