On Sunday a suicide bomber blew himself up inside a church in the restive northeastern city of Potiskum, killing five worshippers.

“The United States strongly condemns the recent attacks in northeastern Nigeria inflicted by Boko Haram,” State Department spokesman John Kirby
said in a statement.

“We will continue to support Nigeria’s efforts to bring those responsible for these attacks, as well as previous attacks, to justice,” he added in offering condolences to the families of the victims.

Boko Haram appear keen to prove they are not a spent force despite a four-nation military offensive running them out of several towns and villages they had controlled.

“As we have said before, the people of northern Nigeria deserve to live free from violence and from terror,” Kirby said.