"Nigerian Taliban" strike again; 10 more killed

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria - At least 10 people were killed in weekend violence in Nigeria's restive northeast, said an official on Sunday who attributed some of the strikes to a radical Muslim sect known for similar attacks.

Maj. Gen. Jack Nwachukwu Nwaogbo said a Sunday evening explosion in a bar popular with policemen and soldiers in the city of Maiduguri killed at least five people and wounded 10, the BBC reports. He also said three gunmen from the Boko Haram sect shot and killed four people in Maiduguri late on Saturday. Nwaogbo said a fifth person was shot dead Sunday.

Boko Haram claimed responsibility, in an unverified statement, for a June 16 bombing at the national police headquarters that left at least two dead.

Boko Haram, whose name means "Western education is sacrilege" in the local Hausa language, is responsible for a rash of killings which have targeted police officers, soldiers, politicians and clerics in Nigeria's north over the last year - including attacks on local beer parlors. They have also attacked churches and engineered a massive prison break.

The group, which some refer to as "Nigerian Taliban," wants strict Shariah law implemented across the region.

Nigeria, a nation of 150 million people, is divided between the Christian-dominated south and the Muslim north. A dozen states across Nigeria's north already have Shariah law in place, though the area remains under the control of secular state governments.

Boko Haram was thought to be vanquished in 2009 after Nigeria's military crushed its mosque into concrete shards, and its leader was arrested and died in police custody. But now, Maiduguri and surrounding villages in Borno state again live in fear.