At least 45 dead in Nigeria market attack

At least 45 people were killed and 26 others wounded in a suspected Boko Haram attack on a weekly market in northeast Nigeria, police said on Monday. The attack in the restive state of Borno, and reports that 22 people were killed in a separate assault in neighbouring Adamawa, came just a week after Nigeria's new military chief vowed a swift end to the violence. "So far, we have 45 dead and 26 injured... but the figures could increase as our men are still in the village searching for more casualties," Borno state police commissioner Lawan Tanko told AFP. The attack happened at about 5:00 pm (1600 GMT) on Sunday when gunmen disguised as traders stormed Kawuri, in the Konduga area of Borno, 37 kilometres (23 miles) from the state capital, Maiduguri. Witnesses said the gunmen arrived in four-wheel-drive vehicles and opened fire with machine guns before setting off homemade bombs that destroyed houses and other property. Tanko, who blamed the attack on "the Boko Haram sect", said he could not confirm that explosives were used but a specialist bomb disposal team had been sent in to search for unexploded devices. He added that security forces in Kawuri were powerless to prevent the attack, the latest in a string of similar incidents in Borno, which has been under emergency rule since last May. Thousands of civilians have died since the start of the Boko Haram insurgency in 2009 and the military response to it. Nigeria's military claims it has been successful in forcing the Islamists out of towns and cities and into more remote rural areas near the border. But attacks have continued, forcing thousands to flee to neighbouring Cameroon, Niger and Chad and prompting claims that a purely military strategy to end the conflict was not working. Kawuri was attacked in October last year when suspected Boko Haram fighters clashed with a civilian vigilante group, leaving 10 dead and dozens of shops and homes razed. One trader who witnessed the latest attack, said: "The terrorists were armed with AK-47 rifles, improvised explosive devices and petrol bombs. "They entered the community and wreaked havoc before they fled into the Sambisa forest, which is not far from the village. "It was much, much later that security forces came and it was night already, and the attackers had earlier subdued the soldiers that were already on the ground." 22 reported dead in separate attack Emergency relief and disaster agencies meanwhile said they were assisting people affected by a separate attack on Sunday in the village of Waga Chakawa, Adawama. Reports suggested that gunmen opened fire on a Roman Catholic church and set homes ablaze. Two official sources indicated that at least 22 were killed. The state police commissioner, Godfrey Okeke, referred all queries to the military, officials of which were not immediately available to confirm casualty figures. "The main details are sketchy because it's a security issue," said National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) spokesman Abdulkadir Ibrahim. "The Red Cross and Adamawa State Emergency Management Agency have mobilised. They are on the ground trying to provide some relief for those who lost their houses." Adamawa has also been under emergency rule since May but has been relatively calm compared to its northern neighbour Borno. Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan this month replaced his most senior military brass days after a car bomb ripped through a crowded market in Maiduguri, killing 19. Boko Haram earlier claimed an attack in December on military installations in Maiduguri. Jonathan gave no reason for the decision but it was interpreted as a sign of dissatisfaction at the military's handling of the counter-insurgency. Nigeria's new chief of defence staff, Air Marshall Alex Badeh, has vowed to bring the insurgency to "a complete stop" before April.