Priest: Boko Haram destroyed 50 churches

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MAIDUGURI, Nigeria, March 18 (UPI) -- Boko Haram militants in Nigeria destroyed 50 of Borno state's Catholic churches, a priest charged.

The Rev. Jerome Ituah of Christ the King Catholic Parish in Kurudu, a populated area of the Abuja Capital Territory, made the accusation Saturday, saying he witnessed the destruction, Leadership Newspapers reported.

"Out of the 52 Catholic churches in Maiduguri diocese, 50 of them have been destroyed by Boko Haram. Yet the faithful are not discouraged of their faith. You would always see them worshiping under rain and sun in open places at the site of their destroyed places of worship," Ituah said.

Ituah, who was in Maiduguri to lead a retreat with priests and the bishop of the diocese there, called on Catholics in Kurudu to pray for their counterparts in Maiduguri and elsewhere in northern Nigeria.