MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) Suspected sect members disguised as traders invaded an open market and opened fire, killing at least 15 people in Nigeria's northeast village of Gajiram, witnesses and security operatives said Thursday.
Gunmen also set fire to the local government secretariat, police station and a clinic during the
attack Wednesday in the village just 75 kilometers (46 miles) from Maiduguri, the volatile capital city of Borno state, where the Boko Haram ideology sprang up some four years ago.
Ngubdo Modu, a local fruit vendor, said he managed to escape by hiding in the bush. He guessed the attacks may have been in retaliation for recent arrests of sect members identified by a local vigilante group known as the Civilian Joint Task Force.
"I believe we suffered that attack because of how our Civilian-JTF had succeeded in curtailing their atrocities by pointing out some of their members to the security operatives who arrested them recently," he said.
Phone communications out of the area have been grounded for three months by security forces, so attacks are often reported late. The lack of phone access makes the area a soft target for Boko Haram, a group that wants to impose Shariah law in Nigeria.
