Two attacks by suspected Boko Haram insurgents have killed 24 people in Nigeria's northeast in the latest violence believed to be in revenge against vigilantes, residents and officials said Tuesday.
A survivor and a hospital source spoke of 18 people killed in the town of Bama on Sunday. A resident and a military source said six people were killed in Damasak on Monday.
The two locations are in Borno state, but are some 200 kilometres (124 miles) apart.
The military has encouraged the formation of vigilante groups to help it track down Boko Haram members as it pursues an offensive in the northeast aiming to end the Islamist extremists' four-year insurgency.
"They came in military uniform and pretended to be members of the JTF," survivor Mallam Bakura Module said of the attack in Bama, referring to a security task force.
"They asked after members of the vigilante group ... but they opened fire on members of the group as we assembled for an address, killing 14 persons and injuring 10 others."
An official at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital said on condition of anonymity that four others had died on Monday night, bringing the death toll to 18.
In Damasak along the border with the neighbouring nation of Niger, relatives said vigilantes were traced there after travelling to the community to sell goods at the local market.
"They were shot in the middle of the night while sleeping in the (guest) house," said one relative, Mallam Ali Abdullahi.
A military official speaking on condition of anonymity confirmed the attack.
The violence was the latest in a spate of such attacks apparently targeting vigilantes and local residents' cooperation with them.
Vigilantes have been credited with helping to push the insurgents out, but security analysts have warned that the situation risks spiralling out of control and resulting in further violence in the future.
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