Boko Haram bloodshed prompts ban on kidnapped girls protests

Protests over the plight of more than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped by paramilitary network Boko Haram have been banned in Nigeria's capital amid widespread violence across the country, police said on Monday.

Abuja police spokeswoman Altine Daniel confirmed the prohibition in a text message to AFP news agency, saying the decision was taken “because of security reasons.”

There has been a significant ramping up of violence by Boko Haram in recent months, with more than 70 killed by suspected group members in the last several days alone.

Gunmen opened fire on a church service in the northeast Nigerian village of Attangara, killing nine people, police and a witness said on Monday.

"As we were holding service, we started hearing gunshots and everybody fled, some through the windows, and ran into the bush," resident Matha Yohana said of Sunday's attack.

"More than 10 of them [the gunmen] were riding motorcycles and one car," she said, adding some local people had pursued the attackers, killing four of them and capturing three. 

Meanwhile, Nigeria's military said on Monday it had arrested a suspect it believed was behind a bomb attack that killed 18 people watching football on television in the northeast the previous day.

There has been no claim of responsibility for the blast, which also wounded 19, but it took place in the town of Mubi, in Adamawa state, which has seen rampant Boko Haram activity in the past.

There were also reports of suspected Boko Haram members indiscriminately opening fire on people in the town of Madagali, also in Adamawa, on Sunday. Details of possible casualties were not immediately available.

The northeastern state of Borno has also experienced a bloody few days, with gunmen thought to have killed at least 45 on Friday and Saturday. Three villages in the region were set ablaze in separate attacks, according to the Nigerian publication Leadership.

The first attack, which took place Friday evening, was carried out in two villages, Wondula and Annari. The second occurred on Saturday morning in Warshele, another nearby hamlet.

Borno State House of Assembly member Hon Idrissa Jidda confirmed the attack, according to Leadership.

"Most of our villagers have fled to nearby Cameroon and others have moved towards Dikwa in search of safety. We are in serious state of insecurity because the insurgents are killing our people with impunity," Jidda said.

The states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe have all been under a state of emergency since May last year.

Boko Haram, which has among its stated goals the creation of an Islamic state in northern Nigeria, has been held responsible for thousands of deaths since it started its campaign in 2009. Worldwide attention to the cycle of violence and kidnappings ramped up in April when the group abducted more than 200 schoolgirls in Borno state.

The mass kidnapping piled political pressure on Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan who ordered "a full-scale operation" against the militants. He has since accepted help from the United States and other foreign powers to try to free the abducted girls.

Al Jazeera and wire services