Suspected members of Islamist sect
Boko Haram have killed at least five people in
attacks on a police station, a local government
office and a factory owned by Indians in the
northeast city of Maiduguri, authorites said on
Thursday. Two Indians were killed when gunmen stormed
their factory on Wednesday, while at least three
people died in a separate attack the same day. "Two policemen and one civilian were killed in the
attack and we are on the trail of the culprits," Police
Commissioner Bala Hassan told Reuters. Witness Alhaji Bukar Aisami told Reuters he saw
four dead policeman at the scene. He said a local
government office was also attacked but there
were no casualties. "Information available indicates that suspected
Boko Haram terrorists attacked a gum arabic
factory operated by Indians located at Bayan
Quarters in Maiduguri on Wednesday," said Sagir
Musa, spokesman for the military Joint Task Force. "The incident led to the death of two Indians with
one wounded, who is receiving treatment at the
hospital." The attackers stole 90,000 naira, he said. Boko Haram has killed hundreds this year in its
campaign to carve out an Islamic state in Nigeria,
whose population is split evenly between Christians
and Muslims. The group was born out of an uprising in 2009 in
Maiduguri, capital of Borno state. Most of its attacks have been in Borno, but its threat
has spread across northern Nigeria and to the
capital Abuja this year, with suicide bombings and
coordinated attacks increasingly common. The group is believed to have a loose leadership
structure and several cells working independently
of each other. Criminal gangs are happy for Boko
Haram to take the blame for robberies and
assassinations. President Goodluck Jonathan has come under
increasing pressure to stem the flow of violence,
which is slowing economic growth in the mainly
Muslim north. He sacked the national security adviser and minister
of defence last month and promised new tactics to
fight terrorism but gave no details.