Abuja, July 26: Rights group Amnesty International has accused Nigeria’s military of killing 23 people during random shooting after a bomb blast in the restive northern city of Maiduguri last week.
The group acknowledged a report that the bomb which was allegedly set off by radical Islamic sect Boko Haram injured three soldiers but accused the oil-rich country’s Joint Military Task Force (JTF) of responding by shooting and killing a number of people, apparently at random, before burning down a market.
“President Goodluck Jonathan must get a grip on the Nigerian armed forces and immediately prevent them from carrying out further human rights violations and unlawful killings,” said the group’s Deputy Director for Africa Tawanda Hondora.
Amnesty called on the government to investigate what it terms as heinous crimes and put on trial those found to be responsible for the killings.
“Allowing troops to go on the rampage will not bring to justice those who carry out these terrible bomb attacks on civilians,” he said.
“While staying within the law, the government must step up efforts to bring to justice members of Boko Haram who wreck untold suffering on people in the middle belt”.
Boko Haram has said it fights to install Islamic law in the country and its consistent campaign has led to debate on true federalism in the country with a mostly Muslim north and predominant Christian south.
The group also seeks justice against policemen who were accused of killing its leader, Muhammed Yusuf, in 2009 when a confrontation between them and the police led to the death of not less than 800 people.
—PTI