10th April, 2014
Scores of Islamist gunmen attacked a police station, a court and a bank in Jigawa state, northern Nigeria on Wednesday, killing seven officers and a civilian, a police chief said.
The raid in the town of Gwaram began at 1:00 am (0000 GMT) and sparked an hours-long shootout with the security forces, said Tamari Yabo, the assistant inspector-general of police in charge of the region.
Boko Haram Islamists, waging a brutal insurgency which has killed thousands since 2009, have carried out dozens of attacks in north east Nigeria and nearby Kano state, but Jigawa itself has been spared of the violence.
“We lost seven policeman. One civilian was also killed,” Yabo said of the fighting roughly 100 kilometres (60 miles) from Jigawa’s capital Dutse.
He told AFP the insurgents came on motorcycles and stolen vehicles, specifically targeting the town’s main police station as well as a bank and a court that enforces Islamic law, or sharia.
“The attack resulted in an hour-long shootout with our men but they were out-gunned and out-numbered by the terrorists,” Yabo said. Security personnel typically use the word “terrorist” when discussing Boko Haram.
Senior military officials have insisted that Boko Haram fighters have been flushed out of their traditional strongholds in parts of Yobe and Borno state.
It is speculated that some of the fighters may have fled to Jigawa to evade military pressure as the state is not covered by the emergency rule and therefore has a relatively light deployment of security personnel.