At least 162 Killed in Kano, Northern Nigeria Attacks, January 21, 2012

At least 162 Killed in Kano, Northern Nigeria Attacks

January 21, 2012

Attacks in Kano, Nigeria, kill at least 162

Telegraph, 5:37PM GMT 21 Jan 2012

The death toll following coordinated bomb attacks and gun battles in the Nigerian city of Kano has risen to at least 162, a source at the city's main morgue has said.

A curfew was imposed on Kano in Nigeria's mainly Muslim north after it exploded into violence on Friday evening, with eight police and immigration offices or residences targeted.

The main newspaper in the north said that a purported spokesman for Islamist group Boko Haram had claimed responsibility for the violence, saying it was in response to authorities' refusal to release its members from custody.

Scores of such attacks in Nigeria's north have been blamed on Boko Haram, though Friday's would be among the group's most audacious and well-coordinated assaults.

Some 20 huge blasts could be heard in the city as a suicide bomber struck a regional police office and a car bomb rocked state police headquarters after the attacker fled and was shot dead, police sources said.

A number of other police posts were targeted, including a secret police building, as well as immigration offices.

Gunfire shook a number of areas, and a local television journalist was among those shot dead as he covered the unrest.

"We have been receiving dead bodies since last night from relief agencies involved in the evacuation of bodies," an official at the city's main morgue said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to give out figures.

"At this moment we have 162 bodies in the morgue, and this figure may change because bodies are still being brought," he added.

A source with the Red Cross said his agency alone had counted 121 dead.

An AFP correspondent counted at least 80 bodies in the main morgue, many of them with gunshot wounds, and said there were piles of other corpses he was unable to count.

Around 100 people waited outside the morgue to collect their relatives' remains.

Residents also reported bodies in the streets, as officials from the Red Cross and the National Emergency Management Agency worked to pick up the corpses.

"Between my house and the police headquarters along this street, I have counted 16 dead bodies that litter the streets, six of them policemen," Naziru Muhammad, who lives near state police headquarters, said Saturday morning by phone.

A police source on condition of anonymity said dozens were killed.

"There are heavy casualties around the police headquarters," the source said. "A lot of civilians have been shot by the attackers. It's difficult to give a death toll, but the number of the dead runs into dozens."

Details began to emerge of the attacks, which were said to involve at least two suicide bombers.

At state police headquarters, a would-be suicide bomber sought to join a police commissioner's convoy, the police source said, but jumped out of the car and tried to escape when officers opened fire.

The source said he was shot dead, but according to a resident, the car rolled over and a huge explosion followed.

The attacks in Kano, which had escaped the worst of the violence blamed on Boko Haram in recent months, sent residents fleeing in fear of what would come next.

President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency on December 31 in parts of four states hard hit by attacks attributed to Boko Haram, but Kano was not included.

Most of the recent major attacks have taken place in the country's northeast.

The state of emergency has not stopped attacks, and the areas targeted have spread beyond the locations covered by the decree.

Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation and largest oil producer, is roughly divided between a mainly Muslim north and predominantly Christian south.

The limitations of the authorities were recently highlighted when the alleged mastermind of a Christmas Day attack outside a church that killed 44 people escaped police custody in suspicious circumstances.

Attacks specifically targeting Christians have also given rise to fears of a wider religious conflict in the country, with Christian leaders warning they would defend themselves. Some have even evoked the possibility of civil war.

However, attacks blamed on Boko Haram have included a wide range of targets, including Muslims.

The group also claimed responsibility for the August suicide bombing of United Nations headquarters in the capital Abuja that killed 25 people.

Britain, Germany and France have denounced the deadly bomb attacks.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said in a statement: "I am shocked and appalled by the large-scale terrorist attacks in Kano, Nigeria.

"The full horror of last night's events is still unfolding, but we know that a great many people have died and many more have been injured.

"The nature of these attacks has sickened people around the world and I send my deepest condolences and sympathies to the families of those killed and to those injured."

Germany's top diplomat Guido Westerwelle "strongly condemned the latest attacks (claimed) by the Boko Haram group in the north of Nigeria," a statement said.

"The bloody attacks against Christians and the public administration (in the region) was a major threat to peace in the multi-ethnic state of Nigeria," a foreign ministry spokesman said.

France said in a statement it wanted to "assure the Nigerian authorities of its solidarity in the difficult battle that they are leading against terrorism."

Hague added: "There is no place in today's world for such barbaric acts.... These events underline the importance of the international community standing together in the face of terrorism in all its forms."

At least 120 Killed in Northern Nigeria Attacks

KANO, Nigeria Jan. 21, 2012 (Xinhua) --

The death toll from Friday's coordinated attacks in northern Nigeria's Kano State has risen to 120, a competent source with the Red Cross told Xinhua on Saturday.

According to the Red Cross official, the figure was recorded from the affected areas, noting that 52 persons were injured. State secretary for the organization Musa Abdulahi told Xinhua on phone that they picked corpses around the affected areas. The northwest cordinator for the National Emergency Management Agency ( NEMA) responsible for disaster and emergency management in Nigeria Musa told Xinhua that it is working with some government agencies to collate the actual casualty figure.

"We moved round the streets of Kano and picked several bodies and moved them to hospitals around the state," he said.

Corpse were taken to the Murtala General Hospital and the Aminu Kano Specialist Hospital, Musa added.

Meanwhile, hundreds of Nigerian troops have been deployed to major streets in northern Kano to enhance security following the multiple explosions in the city on Friday.

The state government on Friday imposed 24-hour curfew on the state as part of measures to forestall further attacks.

Armed soldiers had also been drafted to some strategic public and private buildings in the metropolis to prevent possible attacks. The soldiers were on alert in their vehicles patrolling the major streets of the metropolis in readiness for any eventuality.

A Xinhua reporter in the state said security had also been tightened around the government House area as motorists coming to the area were being subjected to thorough checks.

All the major roads in Kano have been deserted while residents have remained indoors in compliance with the curfew, he added.

Spokesperson for the Boko Haram troops Abul Qaqa told reporters that the attacks were in response to the refusal of the Kano state government to release some fellow terrorists arrested in the state.

He said they were forced to resort to the attacks after an open letter sent in 2011 to prominent people in the state were ignored.

Several persons were feared dead and many others sustained serious injuries following coordinated attacks on police and other security agency formations in Kano on Friday. The attacks are believed to be the handiwork of members of the dreaded Boko Haram sect.

Places affected include Zone A Headquarters of the Nigeria Police, as well as Yar'akwa, Sharada and Farm Center Police divisions in Kano metropolis. Zonal police spokesperson Aminu Gusau told reporters that a similar attack was carried out at the state command of the State Security Service (SSS) and the passport office of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS). At the police office, a suicide bomber crashed a car into the premises and detonated the bomb. The suicide bomber died instantly. According to the Police Public Relations Officer, two policemen also died in the attack.

However, at the SSS office when another suicide bomber entered the gate, operatives on duty opened fire on him before he detonated the bomb and he also died on the spot. Series of explosions were heard near the state police command more than two hour after the initial coordinated attacks. The explosions took place simultaneously in all the affected places.

Editor: Mu Xuequan

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