MOSCOW, December 1 (Sputnik) — Explosions and gunfire rocked the northern Nigerian city of Damaturu on Monday, in a suspected Boko Haram attack against police, residents told AFP.
The dawn raid was carried out just a few days after a suicide bomb was detonated and armed gunmen attacked one of the central mosques in the northern city of Kano on Friday, leaving 120 people dead.
Boko Haram, the vicious terrorist organization responsible for the kidnapping of several hundred Nigerian schoolgirls this past Summer, is trying to create an Islamic state in northeast part of Nigeria. They have conducted similar attacks in Damaturu before.
"I was awoken by huge blasts and the sound of heavy gunfire around the mobile police barracks," Umar Sada, who lives in the Gujba Road area of the city, said. "The gunmen came in numbers. They have burnt down the police barracks. They are now advancing towards two housing estates… We have left our home. We are now in the bush. We don’t know what’s going to happen."
Another resident, a local official said: "It's chaos all over the town. All I can hear is explosions and gunfire from my house. I couldn’t go out for morning prayers because this started before dawn and I'm afraid to leave in case I get caught up in it."
On June 18, a bomb exploded in Damaturu, killing 21 football fans.
Yobe, where Damaturu is located, has been one of three states worst-affected by the current violence. In May 2013, a state of emergency was declared.
Last month, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan requested an extension to the special powers but the deadline for its renewal had already passed.
Anti-terror measures were initially successful in forcing Boko Haram militants out of the Borno state capital. However, violence has now increased in rural areas. In recent months, Boko Haram has seized more than two dozen towns in the states of Yobe, Borno and Adamawa.
