Abuja: About 185 people were killed and several others wounded in a fishing community during fierce clashes between the Nigerian military and heavily-armed Boko Haram militants in the country’s Borno state, officials said.
A local government chairman, Lawan Kole, informed state officials yesterday that the authorities had found and buried at least 185 bodies as of Sunday afternoon.
He said the search for more dead persons has not ended. Military spokesman Brig Gen Austin Edokpaye said the insurgents used human shield and attacked soldiers with rocket propelled grenade and sophisticated machine guns during the clashes which erupted on Friday and lasted for few hours.
“‘When we reinforced and returned to the scene the terrorists came out with heavy firepower, including (rocket- propelled grenades), which usually has a conflagration effect,” the general said.
Edokpaye, who did not dispute the casualty figures, said militants used civilians as human shields during the fighting. In similar cases in the past, soldiers had been accused of shooting at civilian targets and this could account for the high casualty in the present confrontation. Boko Haram Islamic extremists has been carrying out attacks in northern Nigeria since 2009. (PTI)