UN Says 34 People Might Have Died in Nigeria Easter Attack
UN Says 34 People Might Have Died in Nigeria Easter Attack
(Bloomberg) -- Some 34 people may have been killed and 90 injured in attacks on Sunday in Nigeria’s northeastern state of Borno, according to the United Nations.
That brings the number of deaths related to raids by the Boko Haram militant group in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states this year to at least 120, the UN said in an emailed statement Monday. The region has been a battle ground since 2009 as Boko Haram wages a violent campaign to impose its version of Islamic law on Africa’s most populous country.
“Innocent civilians continue to suffer daily from direct and indiscriminate attacks in the northeast of Nigeria,” said the UN’s deputy humanitarian coordinator in Nigeria, Yassine Gaba. “Endless numbers of explosions, brutal killings, abductions and looting continue to uproot the lives of women, children and men daily.”
Earlier, the Nigerian army said 15 people including a soldier were killed and 83 injured in a clash with Boko Haram near Maiduguri city in Borno on Sunday. Insurgents killed some civilians while they retreated under fire from the army.
“The attackers came with suicide bombers,” Abdullahi Umar, spokesman of the State Emergency Management Services, said by phone on Monday. Gun battles ensued at Bale Shuwa and Bale Kura areas on the outskirts of Maiduguri around 8pm Sunday for about 2 hours on Sunday, he said.
--With assistance from David Malingha Doya
To contact the reporters on this story: Mustapha Muhammad in Kano at mmuhammad10@bloomberg.net, Michael Olukayode in Maiduguri at molugbode1@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Rene Vollgraaff at rvollgraaff@bloomberg.net, John Bowker, Shaji Mathew
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