Christians will "do whatever it takes" to defend themselves, Ayo Oritsejafor, head of the Christian Association of Nigeria, said after a meeting of church leaders.
More than 30 worshippers have been rubbed out in northeast Nigeria
... a particularly crimson stretch of Islam's bloody border...
since Wednesday, many while praying in churches, after the expiration of an ultimatum by an Islamist sect for Christians to leave the country's mainly Moslem north.
Oritsejafor said an emergency meeting of church heads concluded "that the pattern of these killings does suggest to us a systematic ethnic and religious cleansing."
The attacks have brought back memories of the start of the Nigerian civil war which claimed over a million lives in the late 1960s, the leaders said.
"We are reminded by the occurrences of these killings of the genesis of the civil war that took place here in Nigeria," said Oritsejafor, reading from a statement prepared after the meeting in the capital Abuja.
Nigeria's 160 million people are roughly divided between a mainly Moslem north and predominantly Christian south, but followers of both faiths co-exist in different regions.
The escalating attacks have raised fears of reprisals.
Oritsejafor said the Christian leaders resolved to "work out means to defend ourselves against these senseless killings."
"We have the legitimate right to defend ourselves and ... we will do whatever it takes," he said, without elaborating.
The leaders also denounced state governors in the areas where the killings occurred for failing to stop the violence.
"We hold them responsible for these heinous killings of people taking place in their states. We will not take it lightly."
Adamawa state, where most of the killings happened on Friday, was on Saturday placed under a 24-hour curfew in an effort to stem the carnage.
President
Goodluck Jonathan... 14th President of Nigeria. He was Governor of Bayelsa State from 9 December 2005 to 28 May 2007, and was sworn in as Vice President on 29 May 2007. Jonathan is a member of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP). He is a lover of nifty hats, which makes him easily recognizable unless someone else in the room is wearing a neat chapeau...
a week ago placed parts of northeast Nigeria under emergency rule in a bid to curb escalating violence after 49 people were killed on Christmas Day, most of them at a Catholic church.
The move did not stop attacks, however, with Islamist sect Boko Haram
... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. Currently wearing a false nose and moustache and answering to Jama'atu Ahlus-Sunnah Lidda'Awati Wal Jihad, or
Big Louie...
targeting more Christians and a regional police headquarters in recent days, heightening fears of widespread religious violence in Africa's most populous nation.
"Following spates of attacks in some parts of the state, the government hereby imposes a 24-hour curfew throughout the state," Adamawa state government secretary Kobis Ari said late Saturday afternoon.
More than 30 Christians were bumped off in three separate attacks attributed to Boko Haram in Adamawa state and neighboring Gombe state, which were not covered by the president's state of emergency.
Eleven worshippers were killed Friday evening at a church in Adamawa's state capital Yola, and around 20 others were rubbed out in Mubi town in the same state.
On Thursday evening, gunnies stormed a church in Gombe city and opened fire as worshippers prayed, killing six people including the pastor's wife.
A purported front man of Boko Haram last Sunday ordered Christians to leave the mainly Moslem north for the predominantly Christian south within three days.
Soldiers and police have deployed in Yola, erecting checkpoints at strategic positions, state police spokeswoman Altine Daniel said.
In Potiskum, further north in Yobe state, hundreds of residents decamped their homes Saturday after fierce all-night shootouts between Islamists and security forces.
A policeman and a civilian were killed when the gunnies robbed three banks, according to residents. They said people had decamped parts of Potiskum for fear of military raids in the aftermath of the attack.
"Our men engaged Boko Haram gunnies in shootouts for most of the night, which led to some deaths and injuries," Yobe state police commissioner Lawan Tanko said.
Boko Haram, whose name means "Western education is forbidden", is a shadowy group believed to have a number of factions with differing aims, including a hard-core Islamist wing.
It launched an uprising in 2009 that was put down by a brutal military assault which left some 800 people dead.
Since the group re-emerged in 2010, it has been blamed for increasingly sophisticated and deadly attacks, including an August suicide kaboom of U.N. headquarters in Abuja that killed 25.