A view of the city gate to Maiduguri in Nigeria’s northeastern state of Borno
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (Reuters) – Attackers slit the throats of at least nine construction workers on Monday in Maiduguri, the northeast Nigerian birthplace of an Islamist insurgency, the army said.
No one claimed responsibility for the attack and the army did not say who was to blame.
Soldiers found the nine bodies in a construction workers’ compound in the city’s Bolori area at around 7 a.m. (0200 EDT), military spokesman Sagir Musa said.
A nurse at a local hospital told Reuters ten bodies were brought in on Monday morning.
Militant sect Boko Haram launched its revolt in Maiduguri in 2009 and has killed hundreds of people in bombing raids and other attacks in the surrounding region and across the country.
The movement says it is fighting to carve out an Islamic state in parts of Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation split roughly equally between Christians and Muslims.
There has also been an increase in killings by armed criminal gangs, taking advantage of the unrest to settle scores.
Kano, Nigeria’s second city and the largest in the north, was the site of Boko Haram’s deadliest attack yet, when coordinated bombings and shootings left at least 185 people dead in January.
President Goodluck Jonathan, yesterday, evening stated the reason for the sack of his erstwhile National Security Adviser, Gen. Andrew Azazi, saying it was to conform with the changing tactics of the Boko Haram insurgency.
