Nigerian 'Islamists' fire at card players, kill two: source

KANO, Nigeria — Suspected members of a radical Islamist sect which bombed Nigerian police headquarters on Sunday opened fire on a crowd of card players killing two in a northern city, a senior military officer said.
Two motorcycle-riding gunmen suspected of being members of Boko Haram pumped shots into a crowd of people playing cards outside a house in the city of Maiduguri and disappeared into alleyways, said the officer who did not want to be named.
"The group of men were playing cards under a tree outside a house when two men on a motorcycle believed to be Boko Haram members opened fire on them, killing two people and seriously injuring five others," the officer told AFP.
"The attack is a typical Boko Haram (shoot-and-run) style," the military officer said.
Boko Haram claimed Nigeria's first suicide bombing last week which killed several people at the police headquarters in the capital Abuja.
The sect has staged attacks targeting government institutions, politicians, churches and beer drinking spots in what has become a low-level insurgency since last year. Dozens of people have been killed.
Card playing among young men is a common pastime in the scorching hot Maiduguri and many other northern cities where friends hang out under trees in the afternoon and play.

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