MAIDUGURI, Nigeria ? A radical Muslim sect has killed seven people in three separate attacks, authorities said Tuesday, following through on threats to continue attacks in a nation overcome by unrest and divided by religion.
Two soldiers who were distributing food to soldiers on duty were shot dead Tuesday, said Maiduguri police chief Simeone Midenda.
Two other people were killed Monday when gunmen invaded their homes, said military field operation officer Col. Victor Ebhaleme. In Damaturu in nearby Yobe state, gunmen from the sect shot and killed three more people from Chad on Monday, said Yobe state police chief Tanko Lawan.
Authorities blame members of a radical Muslim sect locally known as Boko Haram for all of the attacks which occurred in areas that have seen a heightened security presence.
On Dec. 31, President Goodluck Jonathan declared Borno, Niger, Plateau and Yobe states to be under a state of emergency, meaning authorities can make arrests without proof and conduct searches without warrants. He also ordered international borders near Borno and Yobe state to be closed.
In a video released last week, a leader for Boko Haram said the government run by Jonathan, a Christian from southern Nigeria, could not handle attacks by the group.
"All these things you've been seeing happening, it's Allah who has been doing it because you refuse to believe in him and you misuse his religion and because of that, the thing is more than you, Jonathan," Imam Abubakar Shekau said in the video.
Boko Haram has been blamed for at least 74 deaths in Nigeria since the start of this year alone, according to an Associated Press count and at least 510 deaths last year.
The sect has also recently began specifically targeting Christians in Nigeria's predominantly Muslim north, further inflaming religious divisions in Africa's most populous nation. However, none of Monday's or Tuesday's attacks appeared to target Christians.
The group claimed responsibility for attacks that killed at least 42 people in Christmas Day strikes that included the bombing of a Catholic church near Abuja. The group also claimed an August suicide car bombing that targeted the U.N. headquarters in the capital, killing 25 people and wounding more than 100.
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