Fresh attacks on Nigerian police stations kill two - AFP

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AFP

30 January 2012

Fresh attacks on Nigerian police stations kill two - AFP       

[AFP] Gunmen have attacked two more police stations in Nigeria's second city of Kano, killing at least two  people amid a wave of escalating violence blamed on Islamists.

One of the attacks occurred at dawn on Monday, setting off a gun battle with police, residents said. On Sunday night, gunmen stormed another police station near a bus station, leaving two civilians dead.

It was not immediately clear who was behind the violence, but Kano, the main northern city in Nigeria, has been targeted in recent weeks by attacks claimed by Islamist group Boko Haram.

The violence has included coordinated bombings and shootings on January 20 that left at least 185 people dead -- the worst attack yet attributed to the group in Africa's most populous country.

Monday's attack was the second in three days against the police station in the Mandawari neighbourhood, underlining the apparent inability of the authorities to halt the violence.

"It was crazy. These guys came on motorcycles and opened fire on the police station but they met tough resistance from the police, and it lasted around 20 minutes," Jamilu Muhammad, who lives across from the Mandawari station, told AFP.