World

Over 100 Killed as Clashes Reach Northeastern Nigerian City

by Blaine Metzgar | July 28, 2009 at 09:44 am

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Over 100 people were killed in the Northeastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri as clashes between Islamic extremists and security forces came to a head. Although authorities have yet to confirm the death death toll, witnesses are reporting that upwards of 100 bodies have been dumped at the local police headquarters.

"Over 100 dead bodies have been deposited at the premises of the police headquarters and more are still being brought in," Ibrahim Bala, a local radio journalist, told AFP.

Another local journalist said she counted more than 100 bodies dumped on the grounds of the police station in the city, the capital of Borno state which shares a common border with neighbours Cameroon, Niger and Chad.

Police trucks and vans were driving around picking up dead bodies off the streets.

"Fighting has stopped since last night, but bodies are still being taken to the police headquarters in trucks and vans," said Bala.

Nigerian President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua declared that security forces be placed on maximum alert. The city of Maiduguri is currently under a dusk-to-dawn curfew as a joint police-military force initiated an offensive on bands of militants raided the city on Monday.

Witnesses said fighting had died down in the city on Tuesday but sporadic gunshots rang out as security forces fired in the air to scare away any remaining militants.

Police said the militants had fled to forests around the town where they were being hunted down.

"Our men are now battling these extremists in nearby forests where they fled after we dealt with them here," a police official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Truckloads of armed police were seen heading in to the forests.