The Nigerian Islamist sect Boko Haram denied yesterday that 20 of its fighters had been killed in a raid by security forces in the northeastern city of Maiduguri the day before, saying all those killed were civilians.
A security officer said a mixed military and police force, tipped off about a Boko Haram meeting on Sunday, had been fired on when they approached the site and killed 20 “terrorists” for the loss of one soldier in the ensuing shootout.
The Islamist group, modelled on the Taliban, said that his fighters had not been meeting at the place where the military said it killed them. – (Reuters)