Boko Haram targets police base in northeast Nigeria

Damaturu, Nigeria: Explosions and gunfire erupted before dawn Monday in the northeast Nigerian town of Damaturu, sending some residents fleeing into the bush and others cowering in their homes in the latest attack by suspected Islamic extremists. Resident Garba Musa said attackers from Boko Haram group targeted a police base on the outskirts of Damaturu, the capital of Yobe state. “It has been burned down completely,” he said. [caption id=“attachment_1806041” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] People are treated at the General hospital in Potiskum, Nigeria in this file photo. Representational Image. AP [/caption] A helicopter gunship arrived and was seen hovering. Many fearful residents said they locked themselves into their homes after explosions and gunshots woke them around 4 am. Civil servant Abdullahi Abba said he persuaded his family to take off on foot and hide in the bush. “We’ve been hearing these gunshots and bombs since the early hours and felt unsafe staying at home.” He said they hoped to trek to the nearby town of Tarmuwa. Another resident, Musa Abbas, was panting down the telephone line: “We don’t know where to hide, the shooting is all over … We are running for our lives.” Hundreds of thousands of people have been forced from their homes, some across borders, in the insurgency that has killed thousands in five years. Boko Haram has increased the frequency and deadliness of its attacks and is holding some towns and villages along the northeast border where it has declared an Islamic caliphate. The extremists are blamed for a Friday bombing that killed at least 102 people among hundreds who had gathered on Islam’s holy day at the main mosque in Kano, Nigeria’s second largest city. More than 150 people were wounded and authorities are appealing for blood donors. The mosque has moderate clerics who have condemned Boko Haram as un-Islamic. AP