Africa

Africa

Deaths reported in renewed fighting in Nigerian hotspot city Maiduguri

20 February 2012 19:41 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. A number of people died on Monday in a renewed fighting in the hotspot city of Maiduguri in northern Nigeria, according to the military and witnesses, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

Gunfire and a series of explosions rocked the city with a local market bearing the brunt of the fight between the army and suspected members of the militant group Boko Haram, a military spokesman said.

The flare seemed a continuation of last week’s confrontation between the army and Boko Haram in the city, where at least one gunmen was killed and several others arrested in the crackdown by the Nigerian Joint Task Force.

The military put Boko Haram’s death toll at eight in their fresh clash, although local sources reported more deaths and civilian injuries on Monday.

The city has witnessed an escalation of fighting between the army and Boko Haram since Feb. 1, when the Nigerian secret police said the radical group’s spokesman Abu Qaqa was in their custody.

While denying the spokesman’s arrest, the group warned of more attacks in northern cities such as Maiduguri and Kano to prove that it would not give up the fight in the face of the crackdown by the military.