Four
aid workers and 8 soldiers were killed in a Boko Haram attack in Rann,
in northeast Nigeria, the UN said on Friday, in the latest violence to
hit the remote town.
The
attack happened “after dark” outside a camp housing some 55,000 people
displaced by the conflict and appeared to target the military, said UN
spokeswoman Samantha Newport.
A
civilian militia source in Rann, which is some 175 kilometres (110
miles) from the Borno state capital of Maiduguri, and a senior military
source gave an identical death toll.
They also said eight soldiers were killed in the attack but there was no immediate official confirmation.
Newport said: “Four aid workers were killed, one aid worker was injured and one aid worker is missing, feared abducted.
“Of
the aid workers that were killed, two worked for the IOM (International
Organization for Migration) in camp management; and one was a medical
doctor working as a third party consultant for UNICEF,” the UN
children’s agency, she said.
No
details were immediately available for the fourth but Newport said the
injured and missing were both women. All those involved were Nigerian,
she added.
Boko
Haram fighters killed nine people from the Rann internally displaced
persons (IDP) camp in September last year, as they worked on farms just
outside the town.
In
January last year, a botched Nigerian air strike intended to hit
jihadist fighters killed at least 112 people as aid workers distributed
food.
Commanders at the time called the bombing a mistake and blamed “the fog of war”.
An air
force board of inquiry later blamed “lack of appropriate marking of the
area” for the bombardment and an unexpected gathering of people at the
location.
AFP
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