"We need more security personnel in this part of the country, and it is only the new service chiefs that can deploy them to this area to crush the sects," Bishop Stephen Dami Mamza of Yola told Catholic News Service Jan. 29. "The soldiers, when deployed here, will be able to further weaken the strength of the Boko Haram and end the insurgency.''

Mamza spoke to CNS three days after 22 worshippers were killed immediately at a Catholic church in the village of Waga Chakawa in his state, Adamawa. He said the death toll had risen to 31, with 11 injured. They were among more than 70 people killed in one day in two separate attacks in two separate northeastern states, where the Islamist sect Boko Haram is resisting a military crackdown. Thousands have been killed since the sect launched an insurgency in 2009.

Mamza told CNS the "situation was still terrible," adding that "those still alive are fleeing the villages lying along the border between Nigeria and the Cameroon."

"People now live in fear of further attacks," the bishop said, adding that some had fled to Cameroon and others to Nigerian towns they thought were safe.

Mamza also said that the state of emergency declared in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states by President Goodluck Jonathan has been working effectively. Jonathan declared the state of emergency in May for six months, then extended it another six months.

Mamza said Church leaders continued to rely on the state and federal governments to provide security for citizens and various places of worship, since the constitution does not permit anyone to carry guns in self-defense in Nigeria.

He said he still could not say where Boko Haram insurgents were getting their sophisticated weapons.