TheCable

About 16 people who were arrested over the suicide attack in Potiskum (pictured), Yobe state, have been extra judicially killed, the AFP is reporting.

The men, who resided around the Dogo Tebo area of Potiskum, were arrested by soldiers while returning from the mosque on Wednesday.

Hours later, their bodies were found in the morgue at the Potiskum General Hospital.

A prominent religious leader who was also arrested was subsequently released.

Some staff of the hospital and also community leaders confirmed to the news agency that all the bodies were deposited at the mortuary.

“All the bodies have gunshot wounds on them,” said a nurse, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorised to speak to the media.

He said the bodies were brought in by soldiers and were formally identified by community leaders and residents from Dogo Tegbo.

One resident, Tukur Danu, said the cleric was not among the dead and added: “We are worried about what they could do to him.”

Community leaders believed the 16 men were picked up and killed because all of them were from the Kanuri ethnic group that forms the bulk of Boko Haram’s membership.

“We demand a probe into this unjustifiable murder,” said a community leader in Dogo Tebo, who asked not to be identified for his personal safety.

“We believe they were killed on suspicion of being Boko Haram members because they were Kanuris.”

All those seized were related either by blood or marriage, according to another leader.

“The government should look into this cold-blooded murder and ensure justice is done ‎because being a soldier is not a licence to kill at will on mere suspicion.”

About 23 people were killed, while several others sustained injuries when a suicide bomber detonated a bomb amidst a crowd of Shi’a Islamic movement.