Boko Haram bomb police station, school, phone towers

Boko Haram gunmen with explosives have attacked a police station, a primary school and two cellphone towers in Fika, Yobe state, setting all the targets ablaze, the military and residents said.

Two policemen were believed to have died during the bombing of the police station

“We heard that there were some attacks in Fika by suspected Boko Haram terrorists. They attacked two telecommunication masts, a police station and a primary school,” Lazarus Eli, military spokesman in Yobe State said.

A resident said he had seen the bodies of two policemen being brought out of the razed police station, but Eli said he could not immediately confirm whether there were casualties.

Eli said troops had deployed to the town to contain the violence. Fika is located some 170 kilometres (110 miles) from Damaturu, the capital of Yobe State and a hotbed of Islamist extremist group Boko Haram.

Residents said the gunmen attacked their targets with explosives at around 4:30 am.

“They threw explosives and fired gunshots at their targets, setting them ablaze, and fled after the attack,” Tanimu Mani told the French news agency.

“Soldiers who arrived in the town went inside the burnt police station and brought out the bodies of two policemen killed in the attack,” he said.

Another resident, Hassan Gaji, a student, said he had heard blasts and gunshots during his early morning prayers.

“They were shooting seriously for about one hour,” he said, adding that the town had been taken over by police and soldiers.

The attacks followed the massacre of close to 40 youngsters by Nigerian soldiers in neighboring Maiduguri in Borno state and the assassination Friday of the civil war veteran, Major General Mohammed Shuwa.

The Boko Haram militants are notorious for always choosing soft targets in revenge missions, after suffering heavy casualties in some other fronts of war.