KANO, Nigeria (AFP) ? Residents on Monday accused Nigerian soldiers of shooting civilians and burning homes following a bomb blast blamed on Islamists over the weekend, but the military denied the claims.
Troops deployed to the northeastern city of Maiduguri, hit by scores of attacks, have previously been accused of killing civilians and burning their houses after alleging residents cooperated with the Islamist sect known as Boko Haram.
On Monday, residents of an area of Maiduguri hit by the bomb blast on Saturday said soldiers went on a rampage after the attack, shooting indiscriminately and torching homes and shops, resulting in a number of deaths.
Military officials on Saturday said suspected Boko Haram members bombed its patrol team in Budum, wounding three soldiers.
A military spokesman dismissed the residents' accusations as "outright lies", insisting that no civilian casualties were recorded on Saturday.
"The fire that burnt homes, shops and vehicles was caused by the impact of the explosion of the bomb detonated by the Boko Haram attackers," said Lieutenant Colonel Hassan Isijeh Mohammed, spokesman for the military unit deployed in the city.
The attack occurred in an area near the palace of the Shehu of Borno, an influential traditional and religious leader, though it did not seem the palace was targeted.
"Soon after the bomb went off, military vehicles arrived and soldiers besieged the neighbourhood, shooting indiscriminately and setting houses and shops in and around the market on fire," one resident told AFP.
"They went about burning vehicles and in some cases along with the occupants."
He claimed dozens of people were either killed or missing, though the allegations could not be independently confirmed.
A nurse at the Maiduguri University Teaching Hospital who asked not to be named said five bodies were brought to the morgue late Saturday.
Another resident said his house was among those gutted.
"Almost all the houses in the area have been burnt by the soldiers and not less than 60 shops and stalls were burnt in the attack, which were reprisals for the Boko Haram attack," he said.
An emergency source confirmed officials had received such reports, but they remained unverified and rescue workers were focused on assisting those in need of help.
Thousands of residents have already fled Maiduguri out of fears of further violence.
Amnesty International has said at least 25 people were killed during a military raid in Maiduguri after a bomb blast earlier this month, with many others reported missing.
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