20110217
Xinhua
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- Nigerian troops operating in northeast Borno has confirmed the killing of two soldiers by hoodlums suspected to be Boko Haram sect members.

Lt Danbeki, a military spokesperson attached to 21 Armored Brigade of the Nigerian Army in Maiduguri, the state capital, told reporters on Wednesday that the two soldiers were killed on Tuesday night in a bloody clash with the Islamic fundamentalists known as Boko Haram.

The sect members were said to have attack a local church, the Church of Christ in Nigeria (COCIN) Church, Simari in the state capital.

Security sources told Xinhua that soldiers deployed to the area had rushed to the church premises and engaged the sect in gun battle which led to the death of two of their men.

The source said another gun battle was also witnessed at another location within the metropolis where The Apostolic Church assembly at Ruwan Zafi ward was attacked around 10 p.m. local time local time, but no casualty recorded.

The military spokesperson said he could not ascertain the total number of casualties, until the brigade commander of 21 Armored Brigade, Brig-Gen. Tanko Gaiya completes investigations into the two clashes.

State commissioner of police Mohammed Abubakar also confirmed the attacks and killing to Xinhua on Wednesday night.

"We received the reports on Tuesday night on the attempts of Boko Haram armed sect members to attack the COCIN Church at Gomari of Simari ward. In defending the Church, the soldiers return several gun shots and killed some of the sect members," he said.

The police chief did not mention the number of the suspected Boko Haram men killed in the attacks.

Pastor in charge of the Ruwan Zafi assembly of The Apostolic Church, Pastor Oyebode said the gunmen arrived the church area at about 9.30 p.m. local time and started shooting.

"We were in the church mission house and the people were shooting repeatedly. We had to lie on the floor till day break. It was a painful experience and as I am talking to you now, we couldn' t go out of the church because the soldiers and police have condoned off the area," he told Xinhua.

More than 50 other persons, mostly security personnel, had so far been killed by suspected Boko Haram militants since July 2009, when they launched attacks on individuals.

The Boko Haram launched the first arm of insurrection in the state in July, 2009, during which many were killed and wounded while properties were destroyed.

The sect's leader Mohammed Yusuf and his alleged financier Buji Foi were killed in a counter attack by the security operative.

Members of the sect staged an uprising in Maiduguri in 2009, attacking symbols of the government authority including prisons, police stations and schools, leading to clashes with security forces in which an estimated 800 people were killed.