A gang of suspected Islamists raided a police station in north-eastern Nigeria and were locked in an hour-long gun battle with police overnight, a regional police chief said on Thursday.

“A large number of gunmen, believed to be members of Boko Haram attacked a police station in [Maidugiuri],” police commissioner for Borno state, Mohamed Jinjiri Abubakar said.

“A gun battle lasted about one hour between the gunmen and the police attached to the station,” the police chief told AFP by phone from Maiduguri.

File photo: Suspected Boko Haram members after their arrest.

Details of casualties were not immediately available.

In a separate attack, a police officer was ambushed and killed on Wednesday while on his way home. Two civilians caught in crossfire, also died, he said.

“A policeman was shot and killed by gunmen still believed to be members of Boko Haram while riding home and two other civilians around were killed, including a woman who was frying akara [bean fritters] by the roadside,” said Abubakar.

Police have blamed the Islamist sect for series of bomb attacks and also shootings especially in Borno’s capital Maiduguri in recent months.

Source: AFP