Suicide bombers kill 5, including 1 policeman, in two Nigerian cities

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - A total of five persons, including 1 policeman, were killed by suicide bombers and gunmen who struck in two Nigerian northern cities Monday, following a weekend of similar killings, the police said.

In Sokoto, three persons, a police Corporal and two suspected suicide bombers, died while eight policemen and one civilian were injured in two simultaneous suicide bomb attacks at a police zonal headquarters and a shop near a police station.

The Assistant Inspector General of Police for Zone 10, Mr. Muhtari Ibrahim, confirmed the attacks, one of which happened in his office and damaged his official car.

He said five offices and other parts of the one-storey office complex, a well as a nearby police station, were damaged in the attack, which occurred when a lone suicide bomber drove his explosive-laden car into the complex.

The second attack, at the Unguwar Rogo police station attack, followed a similar pattern, but only the suicide bomber died.

In Zaria, Kaduna state also in the north, one person was killed while two policemen guarding the family house of Vice President Namadi Sambo were injured when unknown gunmen fired at them.

Kaduna state police command's spokesman Abubakar Balteh confirmed the attack, but did not give any motive.

Four persons, including two Nigerian Air Force personnel, were killed in the eponymous state capital on Sunday by gunmen riding on a motorcycle.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks, but they all bore the hallmarks of the violent Islamic sect Boko Haram, which has killed over 1,000 people in bomb and gun attacks since launching its violent campaign in 2009 to set up an Islamic state in Nigeria.
-0- PANA SEG 30July2012