30 killed in soldiers, Boko Haram gun fight

Punch

21 February 2012

30 killed in soldiers, Boko Haram gun fight

AT LEAST 30 persons were feared killed in a gun duel on Monday between soldiers and members of the violent Islamic sect, Boko Haram, at the Baga market in Maiduguri, Borno State.

Though the military boasted that it killed eight members of the sect and that no civilian was killed in the exchange, witnesses and medical accounts confirmed that the death toll included women and children.

The Maiduguri incident coincided with a revelation by the arrested spokesman for the sect, Abu Qaqa, that the Boko Haram leaders drive around town in expensive cars that were stolen.

Qaqa said that security agents were often intimidated to stop such cars “because they believe only big men have such cars and they are not checked.”