Boko Haram-Nigeria - Suspected Boko Haram insurgents attacked the Nigerian northern cities of Maiduguri and Kano on Monday, using bombs and guns, the local media reported. In Maiduguri, explosions rocked the the popular Gamboru market, setting it on fire, according to some traders in the market.

'We have just observed our afternoon prayers when we began to hear explosions one after the other. We counted between six and seven explosions at the end,” the local media quoted Malam Umar Kaka, a trader, as saying.

Kaka said people ran helter skelter after the explosions, which were followed by gunshots.

Casualty details are not yet available.

The attack on the market came after three persons, including a policeman, were killed in Maiduguri, which is considered a stronghold of the insurgents.

In the Ajilari Ward area, gunmen killed two persons on Sunday evening, while a policeman was killed earlier on Monday by unknown gunmen near the Gwange Police Station.

In a related development, unknown gunmen launched an attack on the Sharada Phase 1 police station in northern Kano, where an attack claimed by Boko Haram 20 Jan left 185 dead.

The attack on the police station followed a bomb explosion at the station on Monday evening.

No casualty has been reported in the attack, the latest in a series of attacks targeting police stations in Kano since the massive attack of 20 January.

Attacks by Boko Haram have killed 935 people since July 2009, according to figures provided by the New York-based Human Rights Watch.

Pana 07/02/2012