http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jsNx0RUcAXiAurG-lItWd5IdavJw?docId=CNG.fad80dffc69b5105a37f43fbbaedadfd.381

(AFP) – 1 hour ago 

KANO, Nigeria — A shootout between Nigerian police and suspected members of the Islamist group Boko Haram has left seven dead, while 14 people have been arrested and explosives seized, authorities said Sunday.

The shootout on Saturday in Kano came after a suspected Boko Haram leader discovered his house was under surveillance and called out other members of the group to attack police, Kano state police commissioner Ibrahim Idris said.

Two of the police officers on surveillance duty in the northern city were killed, Idris told reporters. Reinforcements were sent, with one of those officers also shot dead and another wounded.

"Four of the syndicate members were shot dead," he said, referring to the suspected Boko Haram members.

Some of the extremists fled, and the suspected leader, Mohammed Aliyu, who also goes by the alias Hamza, was arrested at a checkpoint, according to Idris. Members of the public also pursued the suspects, he said.

Police said they found rifles in his car that had been stolen from police in Yobe and Kaduna states. Bomb materials were found in his house, according to Idris.

Raids were also carried out on other locations earlier in the week that led to arrests and the seizure of weapons and explosives, the commissioner announced. A total of 14 arrests were made in the operations, he said.

Police said the suspects were not from Kano, the largest city in northern Nigeria, and indicated they had come from Borno and Yobe states, which have been hard hit by violence blamed on Boko Haram.

Northern Nigeria has been hit by scores of attacks blamed on the Islamist sect, but Kano had not previously been targeted since the latest round of violence attributed to the group began in 2010.

In an incident on Thursday, gunmen attacked a military-run school outside the city, killing at least three air force personnel, but it was unclear if there was any link to Boko Haram.

A purported spokesman for the sect, Abul Qaqa, told reporters the group was not behind the school attack, but claimed it was involved in the shootout at the house in Kano.

Most of the violence attributed to Boko Haram has occurred in the country's northeast, but it also claimed responsibility for the August suicide bombing of UN headquarters in Abuja that killed at least 24 people.

It is believed to have several factions with varying aims.

Copyright © 2011 AFP. All rights reserved.

adamabdul:

Kano state in trouble

koruji:


[size=14pt]The point is that when residents band together and declare enough is enough on Boko Haram, it will be the end of the vile group.[/size]

adamabdul:

You dont have the brain to understand what am sayin

adamabdul:

I can bet my life on boko haram attacking kano.boko haram is not mai tatsine,two different groups with diff. ways and ideology.Just wait and see @negro

koruji:

How can you be so sure as to bet with your life.

Blackteeth:

Christains were probably the members of the public who pursued the suspects. Doubt if a single muslim was involved.

jmaine:

No need for this . .the fact is . . .the public chased them . . which means . .there is no hiding place for them . .it's like a rat running into a house with little or no hiding place . .such rats never last . .

philip0906:

y is there no need 4 that?

kevoh:

Bad week for the Boko haramites . First It was their bomb factory and now this.

Blackteeth:

Christains were probably the members of the public who pursued the suspects. Doubt if a single muslim was involved.

adamabdul:

I can bet my life on boko haram attacking kano.boko haram is not mai tatsine,two different groups with diff. ways and ideology.Just wait and see @negro

onye_ngbu*:

Imagine the number of boko haramites roaming nairaland.

Isnt there a way seun will help SSS in nabbing this guy!

sheyguy:

i totally go with the above cos previous attacks actually had the locals cheering the BH group, local u & i know are muslim.

ekwah:

Why can't people just chill and be grown-ups for once! This religious bickering I see here all the time make no sense at all. Abeg make hmatured people post like matured people abeg! If you get any scores to settle with people go do am outside Nairaland!!

fellis:

Where is the proof you have that 'locals' who you have somehow confirmed were all muslims, were cheering Boko Haram?

The thing tire person, no be small.

Blackteeth:

Christains were probably the members of the public who pursued the suspects. Doubt if a single muslim was involved.