At least 24 dead after northeast Nigeria violence

Maiduguri: Officials said that at least 24 people were killed in a northeast Nigerian city following a night where explosions and gunfire echoed throughout the area after an apparent attack by a radical Islamist sect.

A worker at Borno State Specialist Hospital told The Associated Press on Tuesday that soldiers dropped off 24 bodies there following the attack on Monday. The worker said the military identified the dead as Boko Haram members and that many of the corpses were dressed in the long robes favored by the sect.

The worker spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of angering either the military or the sect. A military spokesman later said a single soldier was wounded in the attack, though witnesses around the neighbourhood said they saw more military casualties.