The death toll in coordinated attacks by a radical Islamist group in Nigeria’s northern city of Kano has risen to at least 162 people, The Telegraph reported citing local officials.
The attacks, carried out by the Boko Haram sect on Friday evening, targeted several police stations, barracks and immigration offices.
“At this moment we have 162 bodies in the morgue, and this figure may change because bodies are still being brought,” The Telegraph quoted on Saturday an official at Kano's main morgue who spoke on condition of anonymity.
A 24-hour curfew was declared on Saturday in Kano where search and rescue operations are underway. Nigeria also closed its borders with neighboring Cameroon and Niger claiming that these countries allowed the militants to move freely into Nigeria.
Boko Haram, known for its ties with al-Qaeda, has been seeking to impose Sharia law across Nigeria with its predominantly Christian south and largely Muslim north.
The group has been blamed for a series of terrorist attacks in recent months, including a deadly Christmas Day attack on a Catholic church near the country’s capital Abuja, in which 37 people were killed.
