At least 140 folks killed in northern town of Kano as terror cluster Boko Haram says it allotted series of bombingsMore than 140 folks have been killed in an exceedingly series of bombings and attacks by Islamist militants in the northern Nigerian town of Kano.
Soldiers and police officers are out in force in the town, where gunfire continues to be ringing out in some quarters.
The Islamist cluster Boko Haram, which has been blamed for hundreds of deaths in recent months, has claimed responsibility for the attacks.
A mortuary attendant at Murtala Muhammad hospital, the largest in Kano, said they had 143 bodies of individuals who died in the attacks, which began at 5pm on Friday oncenoon after prayers.
The Associated Press reported that there have been troopers and police officers among the dead.
Nwakpa O Nwakpa, a spokesman for the Nigerian Red Cross, said officers were continuing to collect corpses scattered around sites of the attacks."From what they're saying, there are many involved, either wounded or dead," Nwakpa said.A survey of two hospitals by the Red Cross said a minimum of fifty folks were injured in Friday's attack, he added.Witnesses reported seeing a minimum of 100 bodies sprawled round the regional police base alone.
Federal police spokesman Olusola Amore said the attackers targeted five police buildings, two immigration offices and therefore the local headquarters of the State Security Service, Nigeria's secret police.
He appealed for folks to "come forward with data on the identity and location of these hoodlums".
A massive blast caused when a suicide bomber who drove a automotive packed with explosives into a regional police headquarters shook cars miles away. Inmates at the regional police headquarters fled amid gunfire, witnesses said.
State authorities declared a 24-hour curfew late on Friday as residents hid within their homes amid the fighting.
A Boko Haram spokesman, using the nom de guerre Abul-Qaqa, claimed responsibility for the attacks, which he said were retaliation at the state government refusing to unharness members of the Islamist terrorist cluster.
Boko Haram, which seeks to implement strict Sharia law across Nigeria, is answerable for a minimum of 510 killings last year, in keeping with AP. The cluster has been blamed for a minimum of 76 killings this year, the news agency added.
The targets of Boko Haram, whose name means that "western education is sacrilege" in the local Hausa language, have included both Muslims and Christians. however the militants have promised to kill any Christians living in Nigeria's predominantly Muslim north.
Analysts say the sect has thus far didn't gain vital traction outside its 'home' states of Yobe and Borno. however the cluster stages shootouts on police targets in the north on a day to day.
The cluster previously claimed responsibility for Nigeria's initial ever suicide automotive bombing in August that targeted the UN headquarters in the capital, Abuja, killing 25 folks and wounding more than 100.
The sect killed a minimum of 42 folks during a series of attacks on Christmas Day, which included the bombing of a Catholic church outside Abuja.
"The temptation goes to be to ascertain these attacks as a sign of bigger co-ordination to which i might say perhaps, maybe not," said John Campbell, the previous US ambassador to Nigeria.
"It's not rocket science for the assorted teams to go around planting bombs in government headquarters."
