Kano: Three killed by gunmen in cinema

Posted by admin Kano, Latest Politics, State News Sunday, January 9th, 2011

Kano – Gunmen killed three people at a movie theatre in a northern Nigerian city in an attack police believe is politically-motivated ahead of general elections due in April.

The attack took place in Maiduguri where radical Islamist sect Boko Haram has been blamed for a series of attacks in the city where it launched a short-lived armed uprising in 2008.

“Three people were killed by assailants believed to be thugs loyal to a local politician in a cinema last night, regional police commissioner Mohamed Jinjiri Abubakar told reporters.

Abubakar said the attackers chased after a supporter of a rival politician who fled into the cinema and “melted in the crowd of spectators.

“The gunmen stormed the cinema and indiscriminately fired into the crowd, killing three people on the spot, he said.

He, however ruled out the involvement of Boko Haram which has killed scores of people in recent months, targeting police, community leaders and churches.

“Not all attacks are perpetrated by Boko Haram members, politicians have hands in some of the attacks, said Abubakar.

General elections are due to take place in Nigeria in April.

Police have made seven arrests.

Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for Christmas Eve attacks on churches in Maiduguri and multiple bomb blasts and reprisals in the central city of Jos in which a total of 86 people were killed.

-ThisDaywp_posts