20120731
Press TV
At least eight people have been killed in separate incidents of violence, which included an attack on fasting Muslims, in the northern Nigerian city of Kano.


Late on Sunday, unidentified gunmen opened fire in an area near a mosque while Muslims were performing Ramadan prayers after breaking their fast, a senior police official said, adding that policemen had already been deployed to protect the people,

The police then returned fire and one of the gunmen was killed when his own explosive device exploded.

Three other attackers were shot dead by police, said an official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"The rest fled, abandoning their car and three motorcycles they came with," the official added.

On the same day, unknown gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire on the car of a Nigerian air force officer, leaving his driver and an aide dead.

The officer himself survived because he was not in the car at the time of the incident.

"A car of one of our officers came under attack this morning," Air Commodore Sani Ahmed said.

"The officer's driver and his orderly were travelling out of town, but as they reached an area called Yan-Lemo, two gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire on the car, killing the two personnel," he added.

Earlier in the day in another incident, two gunmen on a motorcycle killed two people near their house in the violence-torn city.