Nigerian army corporal kills four comrades in shooting

KANO: Four Nigerian troops fighting jihadists in the restive northeast were shot dead when a corporal went on a rampage before turning the gun on himself, the military have said. The officer “went berserk...and opened fire killing 4 of his colleagues before shooting himself”, in a base in Malam Fatori near the border with Niger, army spokesman Sagir Musa said in a statement late Wednesday. Musa said two other soldiers injured in the incident were ferried to a military hospital in the regional capital Maiduguri, 205 kilometres (127 miles) away. A military source said the soldier opened fire on his colleagues while they were on sentry duty at an observation post within the base. “He killed four, injured two and shot himself in the head before he could be disarmed,” said the military source, who asked not to be identified. It was not immediately clear what led to the shooting but the army has opened an investigation to “determine the circumstances that led to the unfortunate incident”, Musa said. Nigerian troops fighting a decade-long Islamic insurgency in the northeast have complained of weariness after being in battle for so long without a break.