Explosions and gunfire have been heard in the northern Nigerian city of Gombe, witnesses say.

Reports said the blasts happened around the time of evening prayers, quickly followed by gunfire.

Witnesses said people were fleeing an area of the city near a prison and police station. It is not clear if there are casualties.

Earlier on Friday, gunmen killed five people at a mosque in Kano, the main city in northern Nigeria, police said.

A police spokesman said the attackers arrived on motorcycles and opened fire at worshippers.

Nigeria is experiencing a surge in ethnic and sectarian violence.

Gombe has previously been targeted by the Islamist sect Boko Haram. In January, an attack on a church in the city left six worshippers dead.

There were few details of the latest attack. Gombe state police commissioner Orubebe Ghandi Ebikeme described the situation as "very bad'' but gave no further comment.

Boko Haram, whose name means "Western education is forbidden" in the local Hausa language, is fighting to create an Islamic state and wants to impose Sharia law across Nigeria.

The group has been responsible of a series of deadly attacks and assassinations across northern Nigeria in the past 17 months.

DONkollione:

boko haram will soon fade away, the earlier we stop lying to ourself in this country the better, God help nigeria,

Smart jeezy:

This is not boko harram.Mend militant i think.
Pay time

moderattor:

how can boko haram attack a prison in the center of the state and still escape?
Several times!
What is really happening?
Who is ordering the police not to armbush them?
Gunshots lasted for over an hour and police couldnt gather up and round them up?
Who is stopping the police?
Who was supposed to give the armbush or roundup order?
What is happening?
This has happened more than enough.
Some one find the name of the police inspector in question lets bring him to the lime light in our blogs and forums
so the proper authorities can query him.

ogb5:

You don't arrest terrorists in Gombe and keep them in a prison in Gombe.
Nigeria security need to ship those terror suspects away from the North, Bring them to Sapele prisons, warri prison, port harcourt prison or any prison in the riverine areas of ondo state .

In short, create a prison camp for them in Riverine Burutu or Ekeremor and see how they can escape.

Monkey smart na because tree near tree

waxrider:

Last week when SSS was publishing garbage about Kabiru Sokoto confession that they rob banks and quary companies to get bombs and money. I said, the real problem is not boko-haram. SSS/Police are the main problem of this country. They  are boko-haram sympathizers.

They are making the whole world think these two arrested kin pins doesnt reveal who their sponsors are. This bombing and killings will continue until SSS is forced to work on the true confession.

They will come out and tell us "boko-haram arrested confessed that they kill people" For God sake the whole world knows that boko-haram kills, rob banks e.t.c. And when SSS comes out and say boko-haram confessed they rob bank, that moment I knew their is something wrong with SSS.

SSS is just a drama group of ruling norther elite/PDP to distract our attentions and think they are working whereas they are doing nothing.

Imagine Kabiru Sokoto that escaped was easily rearrested again. It shows its all games of the government and SSS. They hid him somewhere.

Is the guy that dumb. Even me wey I no be boko-haram, If I escape like that, in the next 24 hours I will land in Mali or Libya.

And that dumb guy escaped for 2 weeks not even 24 hours. What is he doing in Nigeria?

It shows that Shekau too is in Nigeria. They will bring him out again when they want the drama to be interesting to Nigerians again.

Nigerians should wise up and stop beliefing what these criminals/government feed them. STOP IT. U are no monkeys.

Bliss4Lyfe:

The day this madness gets to the south; Enugu or Ibadan, Kwara or Makudi. Nigeria will be late. It puzzles me, how the international community could sit on the side and watch all these people die and do nothing.

A series of explosions and gunfire has echoed through the northeast Nigerian town of Gombe.

Reports said the blasts happened around the time of evening prayers, quickly followed by gunfire.

"It started around 1830 GMT and it kept on going off," said Jimam Lar, a Phd researcher doing field work in Gombe
who heard the blasts from his hotel room.

"I've heard several bombs. It's a good number. I can't say exactly how many, but it went on for over an hour at intervals,"said Lar to the Reuters news agency.

Witnesses said people were fleeing an area of the city near a prison and police station. It is not clear if there are casualties.

Gombe has previously been targeted by the Islamist sect Boko Haram. In January, an attack on a church in the city left six worshippers dead.

Boko Haram, whose name means "Western education is forbidden" in the local Hausa language, is carrying out increased attacks in its campaign to implement strict Shariah law in Nigeria, a multi-ethnic nation of more than 160 million people.

It has been responsible of a series of deadly attacks and assassinations across northern Nigeria in the past 17 months.

According to an Associated Press count, in 2012 alone, Boko Haram has been blamed for killing at least 310 people.

Gunmen also launched simultaneous gun and bomb attacks on a prison and a police station in Gombe as well.

The attackers staged what residents said appeared to be coordinated attacks on a main prison where some Boko Haram members are believed to be held, and on a nearby police station.

"We are under siege. A large number of gunmen have encircled the prison, shooting and detonating explosives. It is clear they are Boko Haram," a prison warden told the AFP news agency from inside the central prison in Gombe.

Five killed in Kano

In a separate incident on Friday, suspected Boko Haram members shot dead five Muslim worshippers at a mosque in the northern Nigerian city of Kano.






Gunmen on motorcycles entered the mosque in the Tudun Maliki area of the northern city during evening prayers on Friday and opened fire, killing five people, including the head of a state-funded local vigilante group.

"Two gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire on a congregation in a mosque around 1730 GMT and killed five people," said Kano state police spokesperson, Magaji Majid.

He refused to speculate on who was behind the attack.

However, local witnesses blamed Boko Haram, saying the vigilante chief was their chief target.

"It is clear the attack was carried out by Boko Haram, Sule Kwaram (the vigilante head) was their primary target," said witness, Baffa Hayatu.

Local vigilantes have joined the special security unit set up to curb Boko Haram attacks in Kano following the January 20 deadly attacks where 185 people were killed by the Islamist group.

Beware of what you say or else you will find yourself in SSS net to come and explain more on your assertions.

So government hid Kabiru Sokoto somewhere? and then easily released him! You must be a Boko Haram member yourself to talk so deeply about issues like this.