Nigeria police station attacked

Suspected Boko Haram Islamists attacked a police station in northern Nigeria overnight, killing 14 people, state television said Saturday.

Gunmen carrying explosives attacked the station in the city of Gombe late Friday. Attackers also tried to break into a prison in a failed attempt to free the inmates, local police commissioner Orubebe Gandhi Ebikeme said. Explosions were reportedly heard across the city as sporadic gunfire continued into the night. A curfew is now in place, with residents ordered to remain indoors.

Authorities are yet to make any arrests, although suspicion has fallen on the radical sect Boko Haram which has carried out a wave of recent raids in northern and central Nigeria.

Multiple attacks

The radical group has been accused of carrying out a second attack earlier Friday in Nigeria's second city, Kano. Police said that gunmen shot dead five people inside a local mosque during evening prayers.

"They came on the back of a motorcycle and shot sporadically at worshippers this evening…the situation is now under control," said police spokesman Majiya Musa, adding that an investigation had been launched.

Boko Haram launched a devastating attack in Kano in January, which killed 185 people.

Nigeria is a western African nation of 170 million people split almost evenly between Christians and Muslims. The Islamist sect Boko Haram, whose name means "Western education is sacrilege," launched an insurgency in 2009, which was put down by a military assault that left 800 people dead. After lying dormant for a year, the group re-emerged and has committed a series of shooting and bomb attacks that have killed several hundred people.

ccp,slk/rc (AP, AFP, Reuters)