BOKO HARAM ATTACK POLICE STATION IN YOBE
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Suspected members of a radical Islamist sect, Boko Haram, firebombed a police station on Sunday, leading to a gun fight in which at least one person was killed, according to the police.
The attack on the police station in Bara, Yobe state, was believed to have been carried out by members of the sect behind an uprising last year which led to clashes with security forces in which hundreds of people were killed.
A police officer speaking on condition of anonymity revealed that one of the attackers was killed in the shootout.
“The attackers — suspected to be members of the outlawed Boko Haram — engaged the police in a shootout, and when they were overpowered, they fled,” said Sule.
“We have deployed mobile police units through the town and surrounding villages as well as surrounding (forest) searching for the attackers.”
The police officer who did not want to be named said the suspected sect members also threw a homemade gas cylinder bomb into the police station, but it did not explode. Sule did not confirm the explosive was used.
Security services in neighbouring Borno state said last week that they were beefing up efforts to contain attacks by Boko Haram by launching joint army and police exercises and using attack and surveillance helicopters to help with patrols.
The group, which wants Sharia law more widely applied in the country, launched an uprising in Borno state capital Maiduguri last year which led to days of gun battles in which about 800 people were killed.
Suspected Boko Haram members burned down a police station in Maiduguri earlier this month and have been blamed for the targeted killings of police officers, politicians and traditional leaders in recent weeks.
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