Boko Haram claims Nigerian suicide attack

2012-08-01 13:47

Boko Haram (Supplied)

Yola - A radical Islamist sect on Tuesday claimed responsibility for a co-ordinated suicide attack that left two suspected bombers dead and killed three others, as two police officers were killed in separate shootings in Nigeria's violent northeast.

An email statement attributed to a radical Islamist sect known as Boko Haram said the group is responsible for the co-ordinated attacks on Monday on a police station and a regional police office in the north-western city of Sokoto. Gunmen also shot at a third police station.

Tuesday's statement said the group is also responsible for an attack on the uninhabited house of Nigeria's vice president that killed one person in north central Nigeria. The statement said the group had launched an attack in the north-eastern city of Damaturu, too.

There has been a spate of recent attacks targeting uniformed officers, some of which have been blamed on the sect. Boko Haram is held responsible for more than 650 deaths this year alone according to an Associated Press count.

On Tuesday morning, a policeman shot at three other police officers in the town of, killing one, before running away, said Adamawa state police spokesman Ibrahim Muhammad. Security officers went after him and shot him dead after he refused to give up his arm. Muhammad called the incident a random shooting.

The incident came hours after assailants attacked a police station in the nearby town of Mubi, killing a policeman. Muhammad said police was still investigating. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the Mubi attack.

Boko Haram has been fighting against the Nigerian government and public. It has said it wants the strict implementation of Shariah Islamic law in Nigeria, a country evenly divided between Muslims and Christians.

- AP