News / Nigeria

Militant raid claims six lives in Nigeria’s Lagos

Monday, 10 April 2017 3:26 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 10 April 2017 3:42 PM ]

Nigerian security forces stand guard in Lagos on March 29, 2015. (Photo by AFP)

Militants in Nigeria have killed six people, including an army captain, four policemen and a civilian, in the country's most populous city of Lagos.

Nigerian police said the fatalities occurred early on Sunday when the gunmen raided a community in Ikorodu area of Lagos and kidnapped residents after looting their homes and shops.

"Around 1:00 a.m. on Sunday, the police received a distress call that a group of militants and kidnappers had entered Owutu-Ishawo in Ikorodu through the thick swampy forest surrounding the area," said Lagos police spokesman, Olarinde Famous-Cole.

"They were reported to have kidnapped some residents. In response, the police and the army immediately mobilized personnel to the area where the kidnapped victims were rescued," he added.

The spokesman noted that Nigeria’s police had launched a search operation in the surrounding area to find the attackers.

Hard economic conditions in Nigeria and high inflation rate have severely impacted the lives of people in the African country.

Bomb attack near Maiduguri university

In a separate incident in Nigeria, two female bombers detonated their explosives near a university campus in the country’s northeastern state of Borno early on Monday, but the explosion left no casualties.

A woman looks on while standing near the site where four female bombers detonated their explosives near a bus station in Maiduguri, northeastern Nigeria, on March 15, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

A spokesman for the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said the bombers had blown up their suicide vests close to the perimeter fence of the University of Maiduguri at around 04:00 a.m. (0300 GMT).

No group or individual has so far claimed responsibility for the attack.

The Monday bombing attack, the second such incident in Maiduguri in less than a week, came two days after two other female bombers detonated their explosives at a mosque in Jiddari Polo district in Maiduguri, injuring four people.

Maiduguri, the capital and the largest city of Borno State, has been the epicenter of Boko Haram's seven-year militancy aimed at toppling the central government in Nigeria.

Borno has taken the brunt of Boko Haram's acts of terror, which started in 2009.

The group has recently regained momentum after it was nearly obliterated months ago by a joint military force made up of Nigerian government forces and troops from neighboring countries.

Boko Haram has pledged allegiance to the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group, which is mainly active in Syria and Iraq.

The United Nations has warned that areas affected by Boko Haram faced a humanitarian crisis.

Boko Haram terrorists have so far killed more than 20,000 people and forced over 2.7 million others from their homes.

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