NIGERIA: Nigerian forces engage in a shootout with Islamists during a weapons raid in Abuja

Record ID: 236194

  • Title: NIGERIA: Nigerian forces engage in a shootout with Islamists during a weapons raid in Abuja
  • Date: 20th September 2013
  • Summary: ABUJA, NIGERIA (SEPTEMBER 20, 2013) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF BUILDING WHERE THE SUSPECTS ARE ARRESTED TWO SUSPECTS STANDING BY VEHICLE TWO SUSPECTS GETTING INTO VEHICLE INTERIOR OF BUILDING BLANKET AND OTHER ITEMS ON FLOOR BLOOD STAINS ON WALL BOARD WITH NUMBERS WRITTEN ON IT (SOUNDBITE) (English) SPOKESPERSON OF NIGERIA'S DEPARTMENT OF STATE SECURITY, MERILYN OGAR, SAYING: "Arms were buried under ground at this site and so, a joint security team had to proceed to recover the arms. So when they got here they came under attack and of course they had to responded back. Some people were shot at and 12 persons were arrested and are under going interrogation. They are making useful statements. But the two suspects that led the security operation to this place are here, so you can question them and ask them why they brought security services to this place. First they were arrested because they were involved in terrorist activities. They said they had arms buried underground at this location." (LAST PART OF SOUNDBITE MUTE) BOWL AND BOTTLE ON FLOOR BLOOD STAINS ON FLOOR
  • Embargoed: 5th October 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Nigeria
  • Country: Nigeria
  • Topics: Crime,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAVJK8KA7K9L8U7WAQBDGJN158
  • Story Text: At least seven people were killed in the Nigerian capital Abuja on Friday (September 20) in what security forces said was a shootout with Islamists, but witnesses at a hospital said it was an attack on unarmed squatters.
    The incident happened in a building near a sprawling, walled-off residential compound for lawmakers.
    Nigeria's SSS intelligence service said its forces had been searching an area behind the Apo Legislative Quarters for weapons after a tip-off from arrested members of the Islamist militant group Boko Haram when they came under fire and shot back. It mentioned injuries but no deaths.
    "Arms were buried under ground at this site and so, a joint security team had to proceed to recover the arms. So when they got here they came under attack and of course they had to responded back. Some people were shot at and 12 persons were arrested and are under going interrogation. They are making useful statements," Merilyn Ogar, spokesperson of Nigeria's Department of State Security, told reporters.
    If Boko Haram, which wants to impose sharia or Islamic law in northern Nigeria, did open fire, it would be the first clash involving Islamists in the capital this year.
    Two people had been arrested in the raid, said Ogar.
    "But the two suspects that led the security operation to this place are here, so you can question them and ask them why they brought security services to this place. First they were arrested because they were involved in terrorist activities. They said they had arms buried underground at this location," she added.
    A doctor in a hospital morgue, who declined to be named because he was not authorised to speak, said seven people had been killed in the incident. A Reuters reporter saw a police truck dump three bodies then drive off, leaving a trail of blood. An ambulance deposited another body, with bandages wrapped around the bloodied torso. There was no security presence at the hospital, as might have been expected if there had been Boko Haram suspects among the wounded.
    Six witnesses, including two people injured by bullets, told Reuters the building was a house owned by a military man that had been occupied by about 100 squatters who were refusing to leave. Security forces raided it and opened fire on the squatters, they said.
    Boko Haram has been responsible for hundreds of killings this year, although Nigerian forces are also often accused of executing suspects then labelling them Boko Haram.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2013. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register