BY LUKA BINNIYAT & NDAHI MARAMA

FIVE persons were  shot dead, Tuesday night, at Banki, the border town between Nigeria and the Cameroon Republic as a group of gunmen attacked the police station, Immigration and Customs Excise outposts in the area.

This was even as a black polythene bag containing some items under an electricity pole, few metres from the scene of Easter day bomb attack (Sardauna Crescent Junction, Kaduna State) which claimed several lives caused pandemonium as residents scampered for their lives yesterday.

At least there had been two cases where bombs were hidden in polythene bags which later explode, resulting in damage to lives and property within two months in the state.

However, there was drama as the a team of policemen which arrived the scene kept a safe distance while a boy whose name was given as Abdullahi Olaya used a long stick to turn the polythene bag and in the process, discovered that it did not contain any bomb thus prompting his arrest by the police team.

It was gathered that then gunmen first shot sporadically into the air to scare people away before moving to attack the security outposts. Confirming the attack in a statement in Maiduguri, the Joint Task Force, JTF, spokesman, Lt. Col. Sagir Musa said: “Banki Police Station, Immigration and Customs outposts were attacked yesterday (Tuesday) night between 7:pm and 9:45 pm in Banki town by suspected gunmen.