Another set of 20 people were killed in a fresh attack by the Boko Haram insurgent group in Damboa, Borno State.
This was said to have resulted into clash with the security operatives and 15 people were reportedly killed during the clash.
According to the military spokesman, Captain Aliyu Danja, in a statement, the attack took place in the early hours of Saturday and killed five worshippers at a mosque during the morning prayers.
“While they were unleashing their mayhem, troops … engaged the terrorists, killing 15 in the process while others fled,”
The military often gives significantly higher casualty figures for insurgents than for its own men, and it is usually not possible to verify them independently.
Its targets have traditionally been security forces, Christians or Muslim clerics who has been speaking out against its activities.
Meanwhile, the Christian Association of Nigeria has condemned recent killings by the Boko Haram sect urging the northern States Governors to focus more on how to stop the insurgent group’s activities rather than it overconcentration on 2015 politics.
The General Secretary of CAN, Dr. Musa Asake, said this adding that the CAN has yet to understand why there is an upsurge in the sect’s attacks.
Asake said it still believes the sect is fighting a religious war, on the position that was based on the initial mission statement of the sect which revealed that it intended to Islamise Nigeria.
“For us in CAN, we don’t understand why the attacks started again. We were still celebrating and thanking God that things are calming down, only for this kind of mad killings to occur.
“But they are only concerned about how they want the next President to come from the North. The whole of their energy is spent on 2015 and making sure that Jonathan does not get a second term. Is Jonathan our problem in the North? Is Jonathan the one killing our children?
He said the mode of operation of the sect still baffles CAN, adding that there is no justification for such killings.
“We condemn that killing in its totality” Asake said.
“After over 50 students were slaughtered, I expected northern governors not to sleep; to work day and night until they fished out the perpetrators of the crime” he noted.