KANO (AFP) – Suspected members of radical Islamist group Boko Haram attacked a police building in restive northern on Monday but the assault was repelled, a police spokesman said.
Boko Haram Islamists have carried out waves of such attacks in the northeastern city of Damaturu, capital of Yobe state, where the latest violence occurred.
“A group of gunmen we suspect to be Boko Haram members attempted to attack the police headquarters,” Yobe state police spokesman Gbadegesin Toyin told AFP.
“They broke into the fortified headquarters but they were successfully repelled,” Toyin added.
In October, the Islamist group, blamed for more than 1,000 deaths in attacks in Nigeria since mid-2009, burned down the police headquarters in Damaturu.
Toyin said both police and the military were now combing the streets of the city, in search of sect members who may have been involved in the attacks and that it was not yet clear if the violence caused any casualties.
Damaturu, which is near Boko Haram’s base of Maiduguri, is under a dusk until dawn curfew following running battles between troops and Islamists last month.
The nature of the group’s attacks have varied as its insurgency has intensified in recent months.
Gunmen have repeatedly stormed police buildings, while Christians in Nigeria’s mainly Muslim north have been hit by several church bombings, typically during Sunday services.
Last Friday, a suicide bomber suspected of being a Boko Haram member carried out a rare attack at a mosque.
He attempted to kill a key Muslim traditional leader in Maiduguri, but missed, while killing himself and five others.
The United States last month designated three Boko Haram members as global terrorists.
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Gunmen storm Yobe police post