Gunmen suspected to be members of the Islamist Boko Haram
have killed 7 persons in Lawan Bukar Ward of Maiduguri, the Borno State
capital.

Residents of the area said that the gunmen attacked the ward
between 7.45am and 9.00am yesterday following allegations that the residents
earlier arrested two members of the sect, which they handed over to the Joint
Task-Force  Operation Restore Order,
during one of the Boko Haram deadly attacks in the area.

“When the residents caught these boys and handed them over,
we were told that they were killed by JTF, that is why some of their friends
went and organised themselves and came to attack the area this morning,” a
resident told The Tide source.

In another development, three children between the ages of
4, 7 and 12 were slaughtered by suspected Boko Haram members in Suleimanti
Ward. Residents had described the killings as unholy, wicked and barbaric.

A resident of Sulemanti Ward, who did not want his name in
print told newsmen that the killing of the three children was unimaginable,
especially in this era of civilization, but that those who claimed to be doing
the will of Allah and are killing people simply because they belong to another
faith did not mean well for the unity of the country.

Although the Joint TaskForce or Operation Restore Order in
Bornu is yet to make an official statement to that effect, a resident who spoke
with The Tide said, “As a muslim, my religion did not teach me to hate another
person created by Allah, because we are not of the same faith, not to talk of
killing them.

Those people did not only just kill, but killed innocent
children between the ages of 4, 7 and 12 in a most frightening manner.”

He said they started hearing gunshots at about 2.00am in the
area, only to come out of their houses in the morning and be greeted with the
sad news of the killing of small children by suspected sect members.

He said, “They burnt down the house of a retired nurse named
Joel Tamai and killed three children of another man called Adjiu Zubairu. The
situation really calls for serious intervention in Suleimanti because this is
not the first time something like this is happening in Suleimanti ward.”