Gunmen attack police post in flashpoint Nigerian city

Gunmen in Nigeria have killed at least one officer after opening fire on a police station in the city of Kano, where attacks claimed by Islamists left 185 dead last week, police said Saturday.

Security forces in Africa`s most populous nation and top oil producer are struggling to contain the menace by the Boko Haram Islamist sect that has used increasingly bold tactics to kill more than 200 people this year alone.

The latest attack in Kano, the economic heart of Nigeria`s mainly Muslim north, occurred just before 7:00 pm (1800 GMT) on Friday, police said on Saturday, confirming the assault first reported by residents. 

"Gunmen opened fire on our men and the policemen on duty fired back leading to a shootout," city police spokesman Magaji Majia said, adding that one officer was killed. Witnesses had previously told AFP two officers had died.

The attack came at the start of a nighttime curfew that has been in effect in the northern city since a January 20 assault by Boko Haram killed 185 people.

Kano had previously escaped the worst of Boko Haram`s violence, and the brazen, coordinated strikes that primarily targetted police stations in a major city highlighted the group`s renewed strength.

Since then in Kano, another police station was attacked on Tuesday night, with authorities reporting three people wounded and a German engineer was kidnapped on the outskirts of city on Thursday. 

Also on Thursday, a Kano bus station was hit, with no one reported being killed.

The Friday night attack happened in the Mandawari neighbourhood. Residents said they heard the gunmen shouting "Allahu Akbar" as they converged on the police station, travelling on motorcyles and in an all-terrain vehicle. 

The purported head of Boko Haram, Abubakar Muhammad Shekau, threatened more violence in an audio recording recently posted on YouTube. 

Boko Haram has previously said that it wants to create an Islamic state in Nigeria`s deeply-impoverished mainly Muslim north, charging the government with harassing Muslims and raiding Islamic schools.

The group was also blamed for coordinated attacks on Christmas Day, the mostly deadly at a Catholic Church near the capital Abuja where at least 44 people were killed, but its victims also include scores of Muslims.

Top Nigerian politicians have denied that the Boko Haram insurgency is being fuelled by religious tensions in a country divided between a mainly Christian south and mainly Muslim north. 

Analysts have however said that such tensions do exist and are often acute, particularly in northern Nigeria, and that Boko Haram may be exploiting them to their advantage, even if the group`s specific aims have long remained unclear. 

There has also been much speculation about Boko Haram`s links to foreign Islamist groups, specifically Al-Qaeda`s north African affiliate, known as Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). 

But some however doubt that the group has such strong foreign ties and reject claims that Boko Haram is becoming an Al-Qaeda franchise. 

The group launched an uprising in 2009 that was put down by a brutal military assault. 

It went dormant for about a year before re-emerging in 2010 with renewed strength, and is now seemingly able to strike at will. 

The unprecedented series of attacks blamed on the group that have hit Kano in recent days has struck among the city`s residents. 

"Honestly I went to the mosque in fear," said Isa Bello, 58, after leaving Friday prayers in a Kano neighbourhood. "We ardently hope for unity and understanding between Muslims and Christians in Nigeria."
 

Source: ANTARA