More than a dozen people have been killed after getting caught in a clash between suspected Boko Haram militants and soldiers in northern Nigeria.
The villagers died trying to escape the fighting outside the city of Maiduguri on Sunday night, the State Emergency Management Agency (Sema) said.
Dozens more were injured, according to officials.
It is the largest attack since the government revealed it was in talks with the Islamist militants.
“So far we have recovered 18 dead bodies from the two villages Bale Shuwa and Bale Kura,” Sema’s Bello Dambatto told news agency AFP.
“The victims were killed while trying to escape the fight between the insurgents and the military.”
The attack – which left at least 68 people wounded – began at about 20:30 local time (19:30 GMT) and lasted for an hour, the news agency said.
At least seven suicide bombers took part – suggesting the faction may be loyal to the Boko Haram faction led by Abubakar Shekau, AFP added.
The government confirmed last month it was in talks with Boko Haram militants, but it is unclear whether it was speaking to all factions of the group, which splintered two years ago.
A second faction, led by Abu Musab al-Barnawi, was behind the abduction of the Dapchi schoolgirls.
Boko Haram has killed some 20,000 people and displaced more than two million since it began a campaign of violence to create an Islamic state in the north of the country in 2009.
Source : BBC
