Up to 60 people were killed in an attack by gunmen on a cattle market in Nigeria's northeastern city of Potiskum, hospital sources and rescuers reported on Thursday.
A top emergency official in the region told Xinhua on condition of anonymity that 60 people were killed in the raid on Wednesday night, including 34 bodies sent to the hospital morgue and 26 others buried by their relatives.
"I can tell you that 60 people actually died during the attack, but we know this is outrageous and the police will not like to talk about this," the official added.
According to him, four unknown gunmen sneaked into the Potiskum cattle market at noon on Wednesday. They were attempting to pull their trigger when they were over-powered by the people on the scene. "One of the gunmen was caught and set ablaze within the market and everybody returns to his normal business after a while, thinking everything is over. However, we were surprised when they came back at about 7 p.m, about 10 of them shooting sporadically," Abubakar, one of the cattle dealers, told Xinhua on Thursday.
A hospital specialist in Damaturu, the capital of Yobe State, confirmed to Xinhua that 34 corpses were brought to the morgue.