14 'sect members' die in Nigeria shootout

2012-12-11 10:22

Boko Haram (Supplied)

Maiduguri - Nigeria's army says a local police chief and 14 suspected radical Islamist sect members have died in a shootout in Nigeria's besieged northeast.

An army spokesperson said on Tuesday that Boko Haram gunmen engaged police and the army in an hours-long gun battle in the city of Potiskum starting late on Sunday night.

Lieutenant Eli Lazarus said the assailants launched their attack by bombing a police station and a bank.

Boko Haram is waging a campaign of killings that has left more than 770 people dead in Nigeria this year alone according to an Associated Press count.

Nigeria's government has failed to stop the violence. Rights groups and the US government have said it is likely exacerbating the crisis by using excessive force and endangering civilians.

- SAPA