A police station in Nigeria’s restive
northeast, has been attacked by gunmen
with explosives and rocket-propelled
grenades, killing two officers and
injuring another in an incident similar to
previous raids by Islamist extremists, Boko Haram, authorities said Thursday. “The heavily armed gunmen headed to
the police station and burnt it down
using IEDs (improvised explosive devices)
and RPGs before engaging our men in a
shootout in which we lost two officers
while a third sustained gunshot wounds,” Adamawa state police
spokesman Mohammed Ibrahim told
AFP. He said the attackers, in cars and on
motorcycles stormed Ga’anda village on
Wednesday where they burnt down the
police station with homemade bombs
and grenades. “Our officers were overpowered by the
attackers who had superior firepower,”
he said, adding that a police patrol
vehicle was also burnt in the attack that
lasted two hours. No arrest has been made, he added. Residents of Ga’anda said some 20
gunmen had entered the village around
9:00 p.m. chanting “Allahu Akbar”. Nigerian authorities in May launched a
military offensive aiming to end a deadly
four-year insurgency by Islamist
extremist group Boko Haram focused in
the country’s northeast. Violence linked to the insurgency has left
more than 3,600 dead since 2009,
including killings by the security forces,
who have been accused of major abuses. The group has claimed to be fighting for
the creation of an Islamic state in Africa’s
most populous nation and largest oil
producer, though it is believed to have a
number of factions with varying aims
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