17 killed during military operation in Nigeria

Authorities say 17 people died during a military and police operation against radical sect members in the country's restive northeast.

Maj. Gen. Jack Nwachukwu Nwaogbo told journalists in the city of Maiduguri on Sunday that six people and 11 suspected members of a Muslim sect locally known as Boko Haram were killed during an operation on Saturday evening. He declined to comment on how they died.

Witness Usman Abdullahi says soldiers shot at people in the streets after accusing them of being sect members.

Nwaogbo said the operation was a response to a sect attack that wounded five soldiers.

Boko Haram, whose name means "Western education is sacrilege" in the local Hausa language, is responsible for a rash of killings targeting security officers, local leaders and clerics in the area over the last year.