Multiple blasts have hit the Nigerian flashpoint city of Maiduguri, as six suspected members of the Islamist Boko Haram sect were killed in an internal feud, an army spokesman said."Improvised explosive device (IED) explosions occurred in the early hours of this morning in Maiduguri metropolis ... and no casualty was recorded," said Lieutenant Colonel Hassan Mohammed.
Residents said they heard five explosions.
The spokesman said six people were killed in Kabar Maila in a northern area of the city, the base of Boko Haram which has been blamed for a wave of deadly attacks and bomb blasts in northern Nigeria.
"Preliminary investigations reveal that the six deceased persons were suspected to have been slaughtered by persons suspected to be their fellow Boko Haram members," he said.
"The killing may have been as a result of division among Boko Haram sect members."
A resident said the roadside explosions went off just before the end of a dusk-to-dawn curfew imposed in the city, which is also under emergency rule declared by President Goodluck Jonathan on January 31 in a bid to curb the Islamists' violence campaign.
Boko Haram has carried out increasingly sophisticated attacks, mostly in Nigeria's north, that have left hundreds of people dead.
The spiralling violence has sparked deep concern in the international community and shaken the country, whose 160 million population is roughly divided between a mainly Muslim north and predominantly Christian south.
Source: AFP
Residents said they heard five explosions.
The spokesman said six people were killed in Kabar Maila in a northern area of the city, the base of Boko Haram which has been blamed for a wave of deadly attacks and bomb blasts in northern Nigeria.
"Preliminary investigations reveal that the six deceased persons were suspected to have been slaughtered by persons suspected to be their fellow Boko Haram members," he said.
"The killing may have been as a result of division among Boko Haram sect members."
A resident said the roadside explosions went off just before the end of a dusk-to-dawn curfew imposed in the city, which is also under emergency rule declared by President Goodluck Jonathan on January 31 in a bid to curb the Islamists' violence campaign.
Boko Haram has carried out increasingly sophisticated attacks, mostly in Nigeria's north, that have left hundreds of people dead.
The spiralling violence has sparked deep concern in the international community and shaken the country, whose 160 million population is roughly divided between a mainly Muslim north and predominantly Christian south.
Source: AFP
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