Nigeria kills 53 suspected Boko Haram fighters

Nigeria’s military is claiming to have killed at least 53 Boko Haram fighters while repelling an attack on a military base 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. In a separate incident, a suicide bomber targeted worshippers at a mosque Friday in a remote village in Konduga in the country’s northeast, killing five people and wounding dozens. Muslims were observing Friday prayers when a pick-up vehicle laden with explosives, detonated a few metres from the mosque.

It would have been more devastating if the bomber had succeeded in driving near the mosque, which had over a thousand people in it.

Mohammadu Sheriff, a witness

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.

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