DHAKA: Suspected Boko Haram Islamists armed with explosives attacked a series of churches on Sunday near Chibok, the north-eastern town where more than 200 teenage girls were kidnapped in April.

Witnesses said, reports The Straits Times.

Residents said dozens of people may have been killed in the raids on villages roughly 10km, outside of Chibok, but no one was able to offer an authoritative death toll and the military was not immediately available to comment.

‘The attackers went to churches with bombs and guns,’ Timothy James, a Chibok resident, said by phone.

‘From what I gathered, dozens of worshippers, including men, women and children were killed,’ he said, explaining that his information had come from people who fled the affected area and through phone calls.

Enoch Mark, an outspoken Chibok leader since the April 14 kidnappings, gave a similar account, telling media in Lagos, ‘presently, as we are talking now, we are under attack’.

BDST: 2035 HRS, JUNE 29, 2014