KANO (AFP) – At least two people were killed early Tuesday in violence-torn Kano city during a raid by Nigerian security forces on a suspected hideout of the Islamist sect Boko Haram, a civilian witness said.

The sound of explosions and gunfire rang out for several hours in an area near a police station.

One witness said shortly after midnight that a large number of military and state security services operatives encircled a house suspected to be a hideout of Boko Haram. They opened fire and the suspects fired back resulting in a shootout lasting around four-and-half hours.

“Both sides used heavy machine guns and everybody in the neighbourhood was in fear. We couldn’t sleep,” said a witness.

“I have seen two dead bodies. I can’t say if there are more in the house or if any arrests were made,” said a resident who lives a few houses away.

A police spokesman denied the city came under new attacks.

“There was no fresh attack, no explosions,” said Magaji Majia.

“It’s rumours…People are living in panic,” he added.

Islamists staged coordinated bomb and gun attacks on the city of Kano, last week killing 185 people.

-Vanguard

Posted by admin on Jan 24 2012. Filed under Kano, State News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry