Gunmen killed at least five people in an attack on Christmas morning just outside a village in northeast Nigeria.

A military spokesman said at least four others were wounded in the attack, which took place in a church. A state policeman said it may have taken place elsewhere in the village.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but suspicion quickly turned to the al Qaeda-affiliated Islamist group Boko Haram.

Nigerian authorities say this group killed more than 750 people in 2012, bombing churches and attacking schools, theaters, government offices, among other places, the Global Post reported Thursday.

"Their methods are growing more and more gruesome by the year," the report revealed.

"Early in 2012, coordinated bombings of government and security offices in Kano killed nearly 200 people in a single afternoon," it continued. "More recently, in a northern college town, militants went door to door, interviewing individuals and executing dozens who gave the wrong answers."

In the past two years, the group has killed dozens of Christians in church on Christmas Day.