A soldier in Maiduguri is alleged to have shot dead a teenager and stabbed a police inspector on Monday night, sparking protests on Tuesday morning.
The incident occurred near Wulari Police Mammy Market, a drinking joint in Maiduguri at about 7:30pm on Monday night.
Eyewitnesses said people nearby found three men in mufti beating up a girl, believed to be the girlfriend of one of them, over a disagreement as they tried to force her out of a keke napep at the popular drinking joint.
Angered by public intervention, the three men left the scene and returned in military fatigues and AK47s and began shooting in the air.
The mother of the slain was among residents shouting at the soldiers to stop shooting near her grasshopper stall.
The eyewitness, named as Bitrus, said the rescuers of the girl had left when the soldier started shooting.
He said the soldiers insulted the woman who complained and threatened to kill her but her husband pushed one soldier away under threat of a knife.
“The [Jude’s] father and a soldier continued fighting, so Jude saw his father, he was shouting “someone help!
“So he was running and a soldier popularly known as Buratai shoot him thrice, in the chest and hand. The boy ran some 100 metres and fell in a pool of his blood.
“He was rushed to State Specialist Hospital but he died before getting to the hospital. His father is currently receiving treatment at the hospital,” Bitrus told Daily Trust.
Correspondents report irate youth at the scene blockade roads and setting fire to tyres. Shops have been forced closed in the area.
Jude is described as easy going. Dozens of women have been visiting the police barracks to condole with his surviving mother.
As at 9:15am some soldiers drove into Wulari in two gun trucks and stationed one truck in front of the mammy market and the other near Jujima Hotel.
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