Twenty suspected members of
the militant Islamic group, Boko Haram were reportedly killed by soldiers yesterday
in Maiduguri, an Army official confirmed.They had engaged the soldiers in a
shootout as soon as they spotted them moving along the street.
."The
Boko Haram gang, as soon as they saw the military arrive at the spot, they
opened fire and the soldiers went into action. All of them were killed because
they kept shooting and did not surrender or give up," he said.
One soldier was also killed in
the violence, which took place in the northeastern city of Maiduguri, said the
captain.
From its base in Muslim-dominated
northern Nigeria, Boko Haram has waged a violent campaign of bombings of
Christian churches in Nigeria that have killed hundreds and wounded many more.
The group is also blamed for an attack on a United Nations building in the
Nigerian capital of Abuja last year that killed at least 23 people.
The
group, whose name means "Western education is forbidden," has
referred to itself as the "Nigerian Taliban." It seeks to overthrow
the Nigerian government and replace it with a regime based on Islamic law.
U.S.
officials have expressed concerns that the group is beginning to cooperate with
al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, the Northern Africa based affiliate of the
group, and another al Qaeda-linked group in Somalia, al Shabaab, to target
American interests in Africa.
The
United States in June designated as terrorists three senior members of Boko
Haram. The announcement drew criticism from some on Capitol Hill who felt the
State Department should have gone further by designating Boko Haram as a whole
a terrorist entity.
The
terrorist designation blocks all property subject to U.S. jurisdiction of the
three individuals named, and prohibits U.S. persons from engaging in
transactions with, or for the benefit of, the three.
Source:CNN
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