The Borno Police Command on Thursday alleged that Boko Haram elements have infiltrated protesters along Baga Road in Maiduguri, killing four persons, while 34 others sustained various degrees of injuries.
The Police Commissioner (CP), Yusuf Lawal, disclosed this while providing a situation report to the News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) in Maiduguri.
He said that the police swiftly deployed the Explosive Ordnance Device(EOD), Base 13, which probed the scene and rendered the area around a filling station safe.
Lawal said that the injured persons and corpses were evacuated to Specialist Hospital, Maiduguri for treatment and autopsy.
Lawal, who spoke on police declaration of 24 hours curfew, said many minors, mostly almajiris, between the ages of 9-15, took over the Maiduguri-Kano road vandalising public property.
He explained that despite police persuasion, the crowd turned riotous, forcefully breaking police barriers, pelting stones at officers, and advancing towards the city center.
He added that the rioters later spilled over to other parts of Maiduguri Municipal, breaking into the Borno state Mechanical Workshop along Baga Road.
“They looted vocational skills acquisition equipment, and vandalized five official vehicles belonging to BOTMA.”
According to him, 14 suspects are arrested and are currently under investigation at the Criminal Investigation Department of the Command.
He said that the situation in other LGAs of the state remained calm, with monitoring and patrols ongoing.