2011-05-19 12:13
Kano - A gang of suspected Islamists raided a police station in north-eastern Nigeria and were locked in an hour-long gun battle with police overnight, a regional police chief said on Thursday.
"A large number of gunmen, believed to be members of Boko Haram attacked a police station in [Maidugiuri]," police commissioner for Borno state, Mohamed Jinjiri Abubakar said.
"A gun battle lasted about one hour between the gunmen and the police attached to the station," the police chief told AFP by phone from Maiduguri.
Details of casualties were not immediately available.
In a separate attack, a police officer was ambushed and killed on Wednesday while on his way home. Two civilians caught in crossfire, also died, he said.
"A policeman was shot and killed by gunmen still believed to be members of Boko Haram while riding home and two other civilians around were killed, including a woman who was frying akara [bean fritters] by the roadside," said Abubakar.
Police have blamed the Islamist sect for series of bomb attacks and also shootings especially in Borno's capital Maiduguri in recent months.
Most of the attacks have targeted military and police personnel, community and religious leaders as well as politicians.
Boko Haram, a local dialect translating to 'western education is sin', launched a short-lived uprising in parts of the north in 2OO9 in a doomed bid to establish an Islamic state.
It was crushed in a brutal military crackdown that saw hundreds of people killed - many of them sect members - and its headquarters and mosque destroyed in Maiduguri, where most of the violence has occurred.
The sect has since staged a low-level insurgency and has been blamed for raids on churches and a prison.
"A large number of gunmen, believed to be members of Boko Haram attacked a police station in [Maidugiuri]," police commissioner for Borno state, Mohamed Jinjiri Abubakar said.
"A gun battle lasted about one hour between the gunmen and the police attached to the station," the police chief told AFP by phone from Maiduguri.
Details of casualties were not immediately available.
In a separate attack, a police officer was ambushed and killed on Wednesday while on his way home. Two civilians caught in crossfire, also died, he said.
"A policeman was shot and killed by gunmen still believed to be members of Boko Haram while riding home and two other civilians around were killed, including a woman who was frying akara [bean fritters] by the roadside," said Abubakar.
Police have blamed the Islamist sect for series of bomb attacks and also shootings especially in Borno's capital Maiduguri in recent months.
Most of the attacks have targeted military and police personnel, community and religious leaders as well as politicians.
Boko Haram, a local dialect translating to 'western education is sin', launched a short-lived uprising in parts of the north in 2OO9 in a doomed bid to establish an Islamic state.
It was crushed in a brutal military crackdown that saw hundreds of people killed - many of them sect members - and its headquarters and mosque destroyed in Maiduguri, where most of the violence has occurred.
The sect has since staged a low-level insurgency and has been blamed for raids on churches and a prison.
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