Shootout in Nigerian capital with Boko Haram

ABUJA, Nigeria: A shootout between extremists and Nigerian security forces rocked the nation's capital early Friday, according to a Nigerian security official.
It is the first violence from the radicals of Boko Haram in Abuja this year and highlights Nigeria's continuing security problems from the extremists.
The shooting broke out early Friday when a security team was searching for hidden weapons and it was fired upon by members of Boko Haram, said a statement issued Friday by Marilyn Ogar, Deputy Director of the Department of State Services. Boko Haram is the network of radicals blamed for violent attacks that have killed nearly 2,000 in Nigeria since 2011.
Two arrested members of Boko Haram had led a security team in Abuja to a site near the residential compound for legislators where they said arms were buried, said Ogar.
“No sooner had the team commenced digging for the arms than they came under heavy gunfire attack by other Boko Haram elections,” said Ogar's statement.
Some people were injured but did not say there had been any deaths, she said. She said 12 people were arrested.
Boko Haram's violence occurs mostly in Nigeria's northern areas although there have been some serious incidents in the capital.
In August 2011 a Boko Haram suicide car bomb exploded at the United Nations offices in Abuja, killing 24 people. In April 2012 the Abuja office of the newspaper, This Day, was hit by a car bomb and two people were killed.
The gunfight in the capital occurred Friday as Nigerian officials were recovering bodies in Benisheik, in northern Nigeria, where 143 civilians were killed by suspected Boko Haram fighters.