Motorbike gunmen kill two police in Nigeria's Kano

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 13:16 GMT

Source: reuters // Reuters

KANO, Feb 23 (Reuters) - Gunmen on motorcycles shot dead two policemen and wounded two others in Nigeria's biggest northern city of Kano on Thursday, a day after security forces and suspected Islamist militants fought a gun battle, police said.

Islamist sect Boko Haram is waging an insurgency against the Nigerian government that has radiated from its northeastern heartland across the north and into the capital, Abuja.

Kano police spokesman Agaji Musa Majia said the unknown gunmen opened fire on a police foot patrol in the Gidan Murtala area of the city.

"As a result of the attack, two died on the spot while two were injured and are now receiving treatment at a hospital. The area was thoroughly combed," he said, adding that 15 suspects had been arrested since the raid.

Gunshots and explosions rang out on Wednesday in Kano, as the military exchanged fire with suspected Boko Haram militants.

Clashes between Boko Haram and security forces have flared several times in Kano since the sect killed 186 people in Nigeria's second largest city last month, its deadliest attack so far.

Boko Haram, which wants to impose sharia law across a nation split evenly between Muslims and Christians, has become more sophisticated and deadly in its methods in the last six months, setting off series of bombings and shootings.

But Thursday's attack bore the hallmarks of the simpler, more traditional drive-by shootings that have plagued the remote northeastern city of Maiduguri, where the sect is based, for the past two years. (Reporting by Bala Adamu; Writing by Tim Cocks; editing by David Stamp)