8th October, 2012
Gunmen have shot dead a Chinese who was working as a chef for a construction company in Nigeria’s troubled Borno state, a company official said Monday.
Borno state, where the attack occurred on Sunday, has been hit hard by the radical Islamist group Boko Haram but the shooting in the town of Gubio may have been motivated by robbery.
“One of our Chinese workers, a cook, was killed by some gunmen who stormed the livestock section of the market where he had gone to buy a lamb in the company of two local staff,” said Albert Audu, of the China Geo-Engineering Corporation (CGC).
Audu added that a livestock vendor in the market was also shot dead and that the alleged gunmen ran off with some cash.
CGC is working on a road project in Gubio, roughly 80 kilometres (50 miles) from Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state and considered the base of the Boko Haram Islamists who are blamed for killing more than 1,400 people in Nigeria since 2010.
Imitators and criminal gangs including thieves are also believed to have carried out violence under the guise of the group.
A military spokesman said he was yet to be informed of the attack.