101 Killed In Kaduna Yobe, Sectarian Clashes

At least 101 people are believed to have been killed in last three days following sectarian clashes and gun battles between soldiers and insurgents in two Nigerian cities of Damaturu and Kaduna after suicide bombers attacked three churches on Sunday.

In Kaduna city, Christians retaliated the bombing allegedly carried out by suspected members of Islamic fundamentalist sect, Boko Haram by burning down mosques and killing Muslims.

Over 40 persons including six security personnel were on Wednesday killed in a gun battle between soldiers and insurgents in Damaturu town, the capital of Nigeria’s northern state of Yobe.

Yobe State Police spokesman Patrick Egbuniwe told a news agency on phone that 34 of those who were killed were members of the Boko Haram.

However, another sources claimed that at the Sani Abacha Hospital, Damaturu, the corpses of eight policemen and three soldiers were brought in.

The governments of the two states of Yobe and Kaduna have declared 24 hour curfew to forestall further deadly confrontations. Civilians faced acute scarcity of food and water after being trapped indoors.

In Kaduna, where the post-suicide attack left more than 61 people dead with several others injured, many people sneaking to the nearby Automated Teller Machine ( ATM) counters were disappointed as the machines were not dispensing cash.

Meanwhile, the country’s top security chiefs, including the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Oluseyi Petrin, have headed to the conflict zones to have a first-hand assessment, assuring the civilians that normalcy will return to the state immediately.

In another city of Maiduguri where the militants have their base, the Joint Task Force (JTF), has alerted the residents of the plan of the dreaded Islamic terrorist group, Boko Haram, to engage in series of suicide bombing.

Boko Haram, a radical sect has been waging war to install an Islamic government and Sharia rule in Africa’s largest oil producer.

The group’s insurgency has been growing in Nigeria and an attack in the northern city of Kano with multiple bombings and gun shots killed no fewer than 185 persons on January 20.