90 killed in Nigeria's insurgents attack

ABUJA -- At least 90 people were killed in an attack launched by insurgents in Nigeria's northeastern state of Borno, the stronghold of Boko Haram sect in the West African country, local sources confirmed on Sunday.

On Saturday night, Izge Village, located in the southern part of the restive state, was attacked by gunmen in military uniforms, said state commissioner of police, Lawan Tanko.

According to Tanko, who could not give much details of the incident, the attackers threw home-made bombs on roofs of the villagers and shot indiscriminately at them.

He said the security agency was still compiling casualties figure as of Sunday night.

But other security sources said some 90 corpses were found by local people on rescue operation at Izge Village, which shares a border with Gwoza local government area, a place in the northeastern state where killings were recorded in the past.

The attackers threw improvised explosive devices (IEDs) on houses and other structures in the village while people were asleep, thereby killing and injuring scores of people, added a security source who craved anonymity, in another account of the incident.

Adamu Izge, a resident of the village, said his father-in-law was also killed by the ruthless attackers while narrating the ordeal of the villagers in the night attack.

Some other villagers were burnt beyond recognition when the attackers struck, the resident said.

Borno State, one of the three northeastern states in Nigeria under an emergency rule, is the headquarters of Boko Haram, a sect which has killed thousands of local and foreign citizens in its four-and-half years of insurgency in the West African country.

Last year, the US government named Boko Haram and Ansaru, a splinter group, as foreign terrorist groups, with an aim to join the Nigerian government to curtail the activities of the sect.