Gunmen kill four cops in police station attacks

KANO (AP):

Gunmen attacked two separate police stations across northern Nigeria, killing four police officers and two civilians in one attack, while bombing a station in another, authorities said yesterday.

Residents in Bauchi and Sokoto states said they feared the two attacks late Monday night were the work of a feared Muslim sect that is seemingly able to attack security officials at will.

However, police downplayed the worry, even though the assaults showed how Nigeria's federal police force struggles to protect even itself.

In Sokoto, a typically quiet state bordering Niger, the gunmen targeted the police station in the city of Tambuwal after witnesses said they couldn't break into a nearby bank. The gunmen sprayed the station with gunfire, killing the four officers and two civilians there to file a police report.

The gunmen freed a suspected armed robber and took all of the police station's weapons, authorities said.

Yesterday afternoon, soldiers and paramilitary police officers had been posted to guard nearby roads.

In Bauchi state, witnesses said eight men fled after the attack, in two cars they stole from the bank in Gamawa. The robbers tried to attack another bank, but couldn't get past its bulletproof front doors.