Nigerian Soldiers Kill 40 Young Men in Northeastern City

Conflict with Boko Haram continues

NIGERIAN soldiers have shot dead about 40 young men in the embattled northeastern city of Maiduguri during raids in four areas considered strongholds of an Islamist group, residents and a morgue attendant say.

A resident of the Kalari neighbourhood in Maiduguri, the home base of Boko Haram insurgents, said troops swarmed the area late on Thursday and "segregated the young from the old".

"They asked our children to lie face down on the ground and then asked us to turn away our faces. All we heard were gunshots," said the elder resident, who requested anonymity and clarified that the victims were largely teenagers and those in their early 20s.