A gunman suspected of being a member of radical Islamist sect Boko Haram yesterday shot dead two people in the northern Nigerian city of Maiduguri, on the eve of Presidential poll, police said.

He fired at people, some of who tried to apprehend him after he was spotted carrying a gun, killing two and critically injuring seven others, including two soldiers, a senior police officer said.

“The attackers are suspected to be members of the outlawed Boko Haram sect...,” he added.

The gunman managed to escape in the melee that ensued and the police launched a manhunt for him, the policeman said.

It was the latest in a string of killings blamed on the Boko Haram group which has waged a low-level insurgency since it staged an uprising in northern Nigeria in 2009 that was brutally put down by security forces.