The Islamic Sect Boko Haram has denied the killings of 20 of its members in Maiduguri by the military Joint Task Force (JTF), claiming that those killed in raids, were civilians and not their members.
JTF yesterday said 20 suspected armed terrorists were killed in the multiple raids carried out in Maiduguri metropolis on Saturday, following a tip off about a Boko Haram meeting going on Saturday.
Spokesman of the sect, Abu Qaqa, in a teleconference with newsmen yesterday in Maiduguri said that his fighters had not been meeting at the place where the military said it killed them.
He said “they only succeeded in killing civilians adding twenty of them cannot risk sitting in a volatile place to hold meetings”.
The Islamists have killed hundreds in gun and bomb attacks in Nigeria, since they launched an uprising in Maiduguri, the Borno state capital in July, 2009.
The violence recently has been centered on Maiduguri and Yobe state as well as other parts of the North.
