9th March, 2012
MADUABUCHI NMERIBEH/Kano
Assailants suspected to be Boko Haram militants armed with guns and explosives struck at Rijaya Zakka Police Station, Kabuga Kano, north west Nigeria shortly before the Jumat prayers, today
Kabuga is within Bayero University Kano, BUK.
Three Police men on duty at the police station sustained first degree gun shot wounds.
Residents said the incident prevented many Muslims within the area from attending the Jumat Prayers, “as sounds of the gun shots and explosions made people to go into hiding.
“Many of us took refuge inside our houses for fear of being cut up with stray bullets. The gun shots went on for several minutes after the explosion. I may not know if any life was lost,” Malam Abubakar Mohammed, resident close to the attacked police station, told P.M.NEWS.
Malam Abubakar also told P.M.NEWS that the Sect members attacked the police station from the rear, “they threw explosives into the station and followed it up with shootings,” he added.
Following the incident, members of the Kano Joint Security Task Force were deployed to cordon off the area.
Most residents who flee at the wake of the attack are expressing fear of continued gun shots even though the attackers retreated after the gun battle.
Kano has been enmeshed into pockets of attacks that have continued to claim lives and properties since 20 January, this year, when the Boko Haram Islamic fundamentalists launched the most vicious attack ever, killing over 186 people at a stretch of coordinated bomb blasts and gunshots at different locations in the ancient city.
Security has been beefed up in all security formations within the Kano city, including the Janguza military barracks, close to the Kabuga axis where they incident occurred.
As usual, security operatives were put under alert as both helicopters and patrol vehicles move around the troubled city.
The attack on Rijiya Zakka Police station brought to about eight, the Police formations in the state destroyed by the Boko Haram militants since the 20 January coordinated attacks on the ancient commercial city.
Police stations in Kano hitherto affected are, Farm Centre, Zaria road, Zango, Mandowori, Sheka, Sharada, and Naibawa park Police station, as well as Mariri.
It could, however, been observed that the number of security personnel deployed to contend the Boko Haram strikers in the city have continued to decrease, “this is not unconnected to the decision of the authorities to recall some police officers sent from their different squadrons to help calm the situation in the wake of the Boko Haram attacks on Kano,” said a security source.
However, the Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Musa Magaji Majia could not be reached to give police version of the incident.