Nigerian forces kill 35 Muslim militants

Insurgents raid towns, burn buildings in separate attack, but no deaths reported

At least 35 Nigerian Islamist insurgents were killed in a battle yesterday with security forces in the northeast town of Damboa. “The Boko Haram attacks on Damboa began before Friday prayers and most of them died from the gun battle,” Haruna Ibrahim, a member of a vigilante militia that fights alongside the military, said by phone Saturday.

“We went to the scene this morning, mopping up with soldiers, and dead bodies were spread everywhere. “I counted 35 of them.” Nigeria, Africa’s biggest economy and largest oil producer, is struggling to contain the insurgency by Islamist group Boko Haram, which seeks to impose Sharia, or Islamic law, in the country of more than 170 million people.

The militants have killed more than 13,000 people since 2009, according to the government.

In a separate attack yesterday, the northeastern town of Damagun in Yobe state was raided by insurgents, who burnt the local police and fire stations, Musa Muhammad Damagun, a resident, said by phone.

“We locked ourselves in the house after we heard several explosions went off and gun firing,” said Damagun.

“We did not notice any killings, but they broke shops and chemists.”

Yobe state police commissioner Marcus Danladi and army spokesman Col. Sani Usman in Maiduguri didn’t answer calls seeking comment.