Thousands Flee Nigerian City Hit By Islamist Attacks
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AFP) -- Thousands have fled the Nigerian city of Maiduguri over the past two days fearing more Islamist attacks and after soldiers were accused of shooting civilians, residents said Tuesday.
Residents piled into the backs of trucks with personal belongings stuffed in sacks or packed up cars to leave the northeastern city, which has seen the brunt of the violence blamed on the Islamist sect known as Boko Haram.
Fear has so pervaded Maiduguri that the university there ordered its doors closed indefinitely on Monday due to security concerns. The bulk of the university's 35,000 students are drawn from other areas of the country.
Another blast targeted at a patrol team hit the city Tuesday, the military said, wounding two soldiers and killing three alleged attackers. A hospital nurse said four people were killed from what appeared to be stray bullets.
Hundreds of troops have been deployed to Maiduguri in a bid to stop the sect, blamed for a raft of deadly bomb attacks and shootings, and last weekend a shootout between soldiers and suspected sect members left at least 11 dead.
Military officials say those killed were sect members, but residents allege soldiers shot civilians and burnt their houses, accusing them of complicity in the Islamist attacks.
The military says explosives set off by the Islamists led to the burning of the buildings.
One resident, Mainasara Mukhtar, said he was leaving for fear of similar violence in his neighbourhood.
"Fliers were anonymously distributed in the neighbourhood warning of impending attacks and residents moved out to avoid being killed by soldiers as it happened in Kalari (neighbourhood)," he said.
"Most of us are leaving town because we have nowhere else to move in the city."
Violence blamed on the sect has intensified in recent weeks, including frequent bomb blasts, while soldiers have been accused of brutality in return.
The commander of the military task force in the area defended his troops, saying they would not target innocent people.
"My men are not responsible for the exodus because even before the deployment of soldiers people have been leaving the city," said Brigadier-General Jack Okechukwu Nwaogbo.
"Soldiers are not animals who will be killing people indiscriminately. Anybody shot or killed by soldiers must have attacked them or is armed, which means he is part of the group we are out to tackle."
The sect launched an uprising in 2009 that was put down by a brutal military assault which left hundreds dead and destroyed its mosque and headquarters in Maiduguri.
But the sect seemed to re-emerge last year with hit-and-run shootings targeting police, soldiers, politicians and community leaders. It has also attacked police stations and churches, as well as raided a prison.
Bomb blasts have become more frequent and far more deadly in recent months. One audacious attack saw a bomb rip through a car park at national police headquarters in the capital Abuja last month.
While the sect has claimed to be fighting for the establishment of an Islamic state, the origin and motives of certain attacks remain unclear.
There has been intense speculation over whether some of the violence is politically linked, as well as whether Boko Haram -- which loosely translates as "Western education is sin" in the local Hausa language -- has ties to Islamist groups outside of Nigeria.
Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation with 155 million people and its largest oil producer, is roughly divided in half between Christians and Muslims.