MAIDUGURI, Nigeria — Soldiers angry about an officer’s killing shot dead more than 30 civilians Monday in a northeastern city long under siege by a radical Islamist sect.
The attack came from soldiers attached to a special military unit on guard in Maiduguri, the spiritual home of the sect known as Boko Haram, in an effort to supposedly protect its citizens from violence.
The killings probably will further antagonize a population already alienated by checkpoints, security force harassment, and the threat of being killed by soldiers who are targets for the sect’s increasingly bloody guerrilla attacks.
At the scene of the civilian killings, no weapons could be found and there was no evidence that the dead belonged to the sect. A soldier nearby, who did not identify himself, claimed the attack was a response to a bombing nearby earlier Monday that he said killed a lieutenant.
The soldiers set fire to about 50 homes and businesses around the area, which is near the Nigerian Union of Journalists state office and other buildings in Maiduguri.