Third school set on fire in Nigeria’s restive northeast since sect threat

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria — An army official says assailants set fire to a school in Nigeria’s northeast, the third fire since a radical sect warned it would target secular schools.
Lt. Col. Hassan Mohammed said Thursday that no one was hurt after part of the primary school was set on fire overnight in a busy suburb of the city of Maiduguri.

Assailants set two other schools ablaze Tuesday after a man using the nom de guerre Abul-Qaqa warned security agencies to stop raiding Islamic schools.
Security forces have been fighting the Boko Haram sect held responsible for killing more than 300 people this year alone in Nigeria, including security officers.
Mohammed said officers shot dead a suspected Boko Haram member Wednesday. An Associated Press writer saw the young man’s body lying by his car, with two Kalashnikov rifles placed by his side.

AP