Gunmen killed eight people in an attack on a
police station and a bank in north-eastern Nigeria, a witness and a
security official said on Tuesday, in an area frequently targeted by
Islamist militants.
The attackers stormed the town of
Gwoza late on Monday, close to the Cameroon border in Borno state, where
Islamist sect Boko Haram has killed hundreds in an insurgency.
It was not clear if the gunmen
were Boko Haram members or one of several criminal gangs that have
flourished amid worsening security in the north.
“The divisional police officer and
two other policemen were killed when the station was attacked and the
manager of a local bank and four others also lost their lives,” local
resident Umar Yahuza told Reuters.
A security official in Gwoza who asked not to be named confirmed eight people had been killed.Western governments fear Boko
Haram, or factions of it, have linked up with other groups in the
region, including al-Qaeda's North African franchise.
The Nigerian group is seeking to carve out an Islamic state in a country split roughly equally between Christians and Muslims.
Attacks in northern Nigeria are
increasingly targeting foreign interests, especially since a French-led
operation last month against Islamists in northern Mali. Nigeria has
sent hundreds of troops there to join the operation.
A French family of seven were
kidnapped last month just over the Cameroon border, close to Gwoza, by a
group claiming to be Boko Haram who said it would kill the hostages if
authorities did not release Muslim militants held in prison.
On Sunday, the Nigerian military said it killed 20 militants when it repelled an attack a barracks in Borno state.
Gunmen killed a security guard and
abducted a Briton, an Italian, a Greek and four Lebanese workers after
storming the compound of Lebanese construction firm Setraco in Bauchi
state on February 16. - Reuters
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