Lagos, Nigeria - The Nigeria Police have yet to give an updated ballpark casualty figure after initially confirming, in a statement issued by spokesman Olusola Amore on Friday night, that seven people died in the eight attacks on the offices pf security agencies in the northern city of Kano late Friday.

Calls to the police spokesman and other top officers in the Kano state police command were either not answered or did not go through, even as figures (of those who died) ranging from 120 to 140 were being bandied around.

But a Kano resident, Abdullahi Tukur, told PANA that bodies were still being picked up and taken to hospital morgues around the city as at late afternoon, which may explain why the police were not yet willing to confirm the figures being circulated among some local and foreign journalists.

In the meantime, armed soldiers were patrolling major streets in the city on Saturday. Some of them were also deployed to key buildings and facilities in northern Nigeria's largest city, while security was tightened around the government house.

Apart from the security agents, the roads were largely deserted, due to the 24-hour curfew imposed on the state by the government, shortly after the attacks.

According to the police, one of the attackers drove an explosive-laden vehicle into the zonal police headquarters in the city, destroying several buildings and killing many police officers.

They also attacked three other police stations, the residence of the Assistant Inspector General of Police in charge of zone 1, the passport office, the NIS headquarters as well as the offices of the SSS.

The patter of attack was similar. After initially firing at the sentry posts in the affected offices, the attackers followed up by throwing bombs inside the premises apparently to ensure maximum damage.

The Islamic sect Boko Haram immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks in phone calls to some local  newspapers, including the Daily Trust and Leadership.

Among those killed is a reporter with the local TV station Channel, Enenche Akogwu, who was shot while covering the attacks.

On Saturday, Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan called the Chairman of the station, Mr. John Momoh, to offer his condolences, saying he was greatly saddened by the event which led to the loss of lives of innocent Nigerians.

Akogwu's death makes him the second journalist to be killed by Boko Haram, after the sect also claimed responsibility for the killing of Zachariah Isa of the state-run Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) in Maiduguri, capital of northern Borno state, last year.

Pana 22/01/2012