Police: Gunmen from radical Islamist sect kill 7 in gunfight in northeast Nigeria city

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria - Police in Nigeria say at least seven people have been killed by gunmen from a radical Islamist sect as they attacked a neighbourhood in the northeast.

Borno state police spokesman Samuel Tizhe said Thursday that the shooting started late Wednesday night in Maiduguri. That's the city where the sect known as Boko Haram once had its main mosque.

The gunfight began at a bakery. Tizhe said the gunmen shot five bakers to death, before shooting a customs service officer and a man selling drinking water.

Boko Haram, whose name means "Western education is sacrilege" in the Hausa language of Nigeria's north, is blamed for killing more than 430 people this year alone in Nigeria.