Maiduguri: Authorities say 17 people died
during a military and police operation against radical sect
members in the country`s restive northeast.
Maj Gen Jack Nwachukwu Nwaogbo told journalists in the
city of Maiduguri today that six people and 11 suspected
members of a Muslim sect locally known as Boko Haram were
killed during an operation on Saturday evening.
He declined to comment on how they died.
Witness Usman Abdullahi says soldiers shot at people
in the streets after accusing them of being sect members.
Nwaogbo said the operation was a response to a sect
attack that wounded five soldiers.
Boko Haram, whose name means "Western education is
sacrilege" in the local Hausa language, is responsible for a
rash of killings targeting security officers, local leaders
and clerics in the area over the last year.
PTI
