Residents claimed a soldier was killed at Gwange, a suburb and one of the flash-points, at about 5 p.m. local time while some were injured in an attack launched against the soldiers by the sect members. The gun battle lasted for about two hour.
"The soldiers were angry and they decided to chase some suspects into the area and started firing several shots. My neighboring was hit by stray bullet and as I am talking to you now, he is lying in his pool of blood," Idris, one of the residents of Gwange, said in a phone chat with Xinhua reporter in Maiduguri.
Xinhua reporter in the restive city said he saw five patrol vehicles with soldiers attached to the Joint Task Force, the federal troops established by the Nigeria President Goodluck Jonathan to quell the Boko Haram insurgences which have claimed over 2000 people since 2009 when the sect first launched its offensive in some northern cities of the country.
The popular Lagos street which leads to the scene of the gun battle was condoned off as soldiers took over the entire road stretching about 2 kilometers and leading to major federal institutions in the country; the University of Maiduguri and its teaching hospital (UMTH).
Motorists and residents returning homes along the area were turned back by angry soldiers while many residents in other parts of the city scurry home for safety.
There was no official report from JTF.
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