Nigeria military says 11 militants killed in combat

At least 11 members of the Boko Haram sect were killed in combat with government troops in Maiduguri, an army official said, dpa reported. The militants attacked a check point but were overpowered by security forces, the commander of the Joint Security Task Force said. "I can confirm to you that the JTF at the early hours of this morning during a gun battle shot dead 11 Boko Haram members at the usual stop-and-search operation," Victor Ebhaleme said. "Apart from the 11 shot dead, one of the sect members survived with bullet injuries and he is being attended to at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital." Ebhaleme warned that "anyone who is seen during the curfew hours on the road without any convincing identification would be made to face the full wrath of the law." The radical Islamist Boko Haram group has been hitting police targets to retaliate for the arrests of its cadres.