MAIDUGURI, Nigeria, Dec 27 (Reuters) - Islamist militants
killed at least 10 people and took two women captive in an
attack on a convoy in northern Nigeria that targeted Christians
and those associated with international aid groups, witnesses
said on Friday.
In the Dec. 22 attack, they told Reuters, militants posing
as soldiers stopped a convoy of commercial vehicles travelling
towards Maiduguri in northeastern Borno state and asked
passengers in English to produce identification cards.
The militants separated those who they determined worked for
international aid groups, were Christian or worked with the
police or the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF), a coalition of
civilian vigilante groups formed to fight Boko Haram jihadists.
It opened fire on people associated with these three groups,
killing 10, including four who witnesses said had identification
cards associating them with humanitarian groups.
"They asked those aid workers, and others, to move towards
the north (side of the road) and started shooting at them
sporadically, killing them," local witness Babagana Kachallah
told Reuters.
Kachallah said the militants took two women captive who it
believed worked for international aid groups.
Two other witnesses, a family member of one of those shot
dead and two sources who work with aid groups in Nigeria,
confirmed the attack.
It was not immediately clear whether the militants were
associated with Boko Haram or another militant faction, Islamic
State in West Africa Province (ISWAP).
Nigeria announced in September that it would require anyone
moving through the northeastern states of Adamawa, Borno and
Yobe to carry identification cards to help authorities root out
members of Boko Haram and Islamic State.
ISWAP said on Friday it had executed 11 Christian captives
it had previously kidnapped in Borno state.