The death toll keeps rising in Nigeria as gunmen suspected to be members of the Boko Haram sect continue their deadly insurgence in the restive north. The AFP reported that a Muslim cleric and a retired prison guard were killed on Saturday at their residences in Potiskum, Yobe.

A resident who witnessed the attack say the assailants had shot and killed the cleric, identified as Usman Muhammad, when they invaded his home in the Indiski area of Potiskum, the site of several recent deadly attacks. The attackers, the AFP further reported, then broke into the home next door where they shot dead a former prison guard.

A doctor, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told the news agency that corpses of the neighbors were deposited in the morgue of the general hospital on Saturday morning, both riddled with bullet wounds.
Meanwhile, unknown gunmen also wounded a Muslim cleric on Friday in the state capital Damaturu, residents said.

The Boko Haram sect has been known to attack clerics who openly oppose their mission. The commercial town of Potiskum has suffered persistent attacks by the sect, despite government imposed dusk to dawn curfews and deployment of security operatives in the area.