Nigeria's military is claiming to have killed dozens
of Boko Haram fighters while repelling an attack on a military base in
the northeast of the country
The attack killed at least 53 fighters in Damboa, in the northeasterly Borno state.
Chris Olukolade, Nigeria's defence spokesman, said five soldiers and a
senior military officer had also been killed in the exchange of fire on
Friday night.
Police blamed Boko Haram for the offensive after fighters attacked the base with rocket-propelled grenades.
A security source said the raid was a revenge mission after dozens of
fighters were killed in an air and ground attack on two of their camps
in the Yejiwa and Alagarno areas.
In a separate incident, also on Friday, a suicide bomber targeted
worshippers at a mosque in a remote village in Konduga in the country's
northeast, killing five people and wounding dozens.
A security source told Reuters news agency, Muslims were observing
Friday prayers when a pick-up vehicle laden with explosives, detonated a
few metres from the mosque.
Mohammadu Sheriff, witness, said he had seen the vigilantes
conducting checks on a pick-up van carrying firewood. "Suddenly it
exploded."
"It would have been more devastating if the bomber had succeeded in
driving near the mosque, which had over a thousand people in it."
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Boko Haram was believed to be behind the attack.
Boko Haram has killed thousands of people since launching an uprising
in 2009, and several hundred in the past two months, as it steps up a
campaign against the government.
Source- Aljazeera
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