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Dozens killed in Nigeria

April 13, 2014

Around 60 people are reported to have been killed and several others injured in an attack in northeastern Nigeria. Local officials have blamed the Islamist extremist sect Boko Haram for the attacks.

https://p.dw.com/p/1BhLv
Map of Nigeria

News agencies on Sunday quoted two separate local officials who said the attackers struck early in the morning in a number of towns in Nigeria's Borno state, including Anchaka and Bama, while most residents were still asleep.

"The attackers, who are no doubt Boko Haram insurgents, attacked Amchaka and nearby villages this morning, hurling IEDs (improvised explosive devices) into homes and setting them on fire," Baba Shehu Gulumba, a local government administrator for the town of Bama, told the AFP news agency.

"They then went on a shooting spree, opening fire on confused residents as they tried to flee, killing 60 people and injuring several others," added Gulumba, who was speaking from Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state.

Alhaji Baba Shehu, chairperson of the Bama local council gave the DPA news agency a similar account.

"They set ablaze houses and shot residents who tried to escape from the fire," Shehu said.

More than 100 people had been reported killed during attacks in Borno earlier in the week.

pfd/kms (dpa, AFP)