Kano - Boko Haram insurgents attacked a
market outside Maiduguri, local people who
witnessed the incident told AFP on Saturday.
About 50 gunmen on motorbikes stormed the
weekly market in Ngom village, some 20
kilometres (12.5 miles) from the Borno state
capital, at about 1:00 pm (1200 GMT) on Friday
and opened fire, they said.
The attack came hours after a fierce fight with
the Nigerian army in the town of Konduga, 35
kilometres from Maiduguri, during which the
military said Boko Haram fighters were routed,
lost equipment and suffered heavy casualties.
"They (Boko Haram) came on motorcycles and
opened fire on the market. They killed many
people," said Tanimu Goni, who fled to
Maiduguri in the wake of the attack.
Another trader, Nafiu Umarari, added: "They
fired indiscriminately and killed a lot of people."
Neither witness gave a precise figure and there
was no official word from the military, although
one report on the Premium Times website said
four civilians were killed.
The men said the insurgents seized vehicles and
looted sacks of grain before fleeing but were
pursued by a team of soldiers and civilian
vigilantes from Maiduguri.
"The soldiers and the civilian (vigilantes)
succeeded in killing dozens of the Boko Haram
fighters but many of them escaped into the
bush," Goni said in an account supported by
Umarari.
The military, under pressure to stop the
militants' rapid capture of towns and villages in
the northeast, had hailed their claimed success
in Konduga as a victory.
On Twitter, top brass on Saturday encouraged
greater national support for its troops in the
region by calling for positive messages using
the hashtag #VictoryforNigeria.
Fears have mounted in recent days about a
possible attack on Maiduguri after the influential
Borno Elders' Forum of retired military and
civilian officials warned that Boko Haram had
effectively surrounded the city.
The military dismissed the claim as "alarmist"
but the market attack in Ngom indicated that
the rebels were in the nearby area.
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