A radical Islamist sect has claimed responsibility for bombings in central Nigeria and attacks on churches in the northeast of the country that led to the deaths of at least 86 people.

According to The Telegraph, gunmen suspected to be part of the sect, Boko Haram, shot dead two policemen in northern Nigeria on Tuesday. In two separate attacks in the northern city of Maiduguri, suspected gunmen of the same group killed a policeman and retired police officer while three civilians suffered gunshot wounds