20120125
AFP
Gunmen threw explosives and opened fire at a police station in a fresh attack in Nigeria's embattled city of Kano on Tuesday, residents said, four days after coordinated bombings and shootouts killed 185 people there.

A witness who lives opposite the police station said the assailants came by car, in motorcycles and on foot.

"When they arrived at the police station they just threw two bombs and followed it with gunshots... that lasted for 25 minutes," he said.

It was unclear if there were casualties.

Another resident of the Sheka area of the city gave a near similar account.

"It was around 6:30 (pm) when people were preparing for the evening prayers and a large group of gunmen arrived in the area and opened fire on the police station and threw in bombs," he said.

Yet another resident said he could see fire coming from the building in the city still reeling from Friday's attacks that targetted mainly police buildings.

Gunfire was also heard from the police headquarters, which was one of the targets of the last week's attacks. A police source later said it was just a show of force by military reinforcements that had just arrived from Lagos.

Friday's wave of attacks in Kano were the deadliest operation launched by Islamist sect Boko Haram since it began a bloody campaign in July 2009 which Human Rights Watch said Tuesday has left close to 1,000 people dead.

The US State Department urged Africa's most populous nation and top oil producer to "stand united" in the face of growing sectarian strife, while a visiting US delegation promised security assistance.

Earlier gunfire erupted when security forces raided a house suspected to be a Boko Haram hideout shortly after midnight.

They opened fire and a suspect fired back resulting in a shootout lasting around four-and-half hours, sending residents into panic.

According to New York-based rights group Human Rights Watch, Boko Haram has killed more than 935 people since the group -- whose name can be loosely translated as "Western education is sin" -- launched a violent campaign in July 2009.

More than 250 of those deaths have come in 2012 alone.

"This is a time for all Nigerians to stand united against the enemies of civility and peace," US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.

She also urged the Nigerian authorities to fully investigate the attacks, including those against Christians, and hold the perpetrators accountable. HRW and Amnesty International also want Nigeria to probe and put to an end the violent campaign.

A US delegation led by William Fitzgerald, the deputy assistant secretary of state for African affairs, and Joseph McMillan, the principal deputy assistant secretary for defence, held security talks with Nigeria in the capital Abuja on Tuesday.

The two sides agreed to boost the operational capabilities of the Nigeria security services in the face of internal security threats. They would consider training, intelligence sharing and modernisation of the security services.

Boko Haram which has staged a series of increasingly sophisticated and bloody attacks, often targeting security agencies and lately Christians, is believed to have a number of factions with differing aims, including some with political links and a hardcore Islamist cell.

A top African Union official warned of the possibility of the radical sect spreading its violence campaigns to other African countries.

"The possibility of this group expanding its activities into the neighbouring countries, deep into the Central African region should not be discarded," said Francisco Caetano Jose Madeira said, who is in charge of counter-terrorism cooperation for the AU, said in Abuja.

Officials from Sahel states in a meeting also attended by Nigeria in the Mauritanian capital Nouakchott vowed to join forces to fight Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and Boko Haram, amid growing speculation the two have ties.

President Goodluck Jonathan vowed to beef up security as he grapples with the worst crises of his nine-month tenure -- a surge in Boko Haram attacks and mounting social discontent.

A purported spokesman for Boko Haram said the attacks were in response to a refusal by the authorities to release arrested members of the group from custody.