Maiduguri, July 30: Nearly 4,000 people abandon their homes as soldiers in tanks besiege the shelter compound of an “extremist” sect in the northern town of Maiduguri for the third day.
Apollus Jediel, a relief official, said about 1,000 people had abandoned their homes Wednesday, joining 3,000 displaced this week in four states who were caught up in continued fighting between government forces and Boko Haram fighters, said to be seeking to impose “Islamic law” across the country.
At least 30 people were killed in fresh clashes in the northern state of Yobe on July 29, a police official confirmed.
Earlier reports said more than 400 people were killed in the area as troops search the Borno state capital for the leader of Boko Haram sect Mohammed Yusuf.
Nigerian authorities blame Boko Haram for launching attacks on police stations and government installations in the states of Bauchi, Borno, Kano and Yobe.
The allegation is denied by the militant group, which opposes Western education in Nigeria and views Abuja’s government as ‘corrupted by Western ideas’.
Analysts assert that riots, religious conflicts, sectarian violence and communal fights over land and water explode periodically in northern Nigeria.
—-Agencies