20110627
xinhua
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria June 27 (Xinhua) -- At least 30 people have been killed and several others seriously injured by suspected members of the Boko Haram sect in a drinking joint in northeast Nigeria's Borno State on Sunday, according to security sources.

There was no official confirmation from the police or government in the state so far.

Security sources told Xinhua that the sect members were said to have attacked a local drinking joint in Maiduguri, the state capital on Sunday night, killing about 30 people.

A resident of the area told Xinhua that about 10 sect members had stormed a popular drinking joint located at Dala Kwamti in the city at about 6:00 p.m. local time (1700 GMT) on Sunday in a convoy of two cars.

The gunmen were said to have started shooting as soon as they got near the joint.

But another source said the gunmen rode to the area on motorcycles from different direction to beat the heavy security in the city.

The source could not however ascertain the number of motorcycles used.

"They rode on motorcycles from different direction to beat the soldiers and police at a junction close to the area. They started firing shots into the joint from different direction and there were many people who had come to relax at that time since it was weekend," a resident of the area who did not want his name mentioned for security reason told Xinhua on phone.

Police chief in the state Mohammed Abubakar and the state spokesperson Abdullahi Lawal could not be reached as their mobile line were unavailable on Sunday night.

But the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said it is mobilizing relief materials for the victims of Sunday's bomb explosion that rocked a drinking spot in Dala, a suburb of Maiduguri, Borno where some people were feared dead.

Yushau Shuaibu, spokesperson for the agency said the agency was aware of the explosion and had started responding to the situation.

More than 50 other people, 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.