26 Feb 2012

12 killed at police station

6:08 am on 26 February 2012

An attack on a police station by gunmen in northern Nigeria is now known to have killed at least 12 people.

Bodies have been removed from the building in the city of Gombe, which was burnt out during a two-hour assault on Friday.

A simultaneous attack on a prison there was repulsed.

Police suspect the Boko Haram group was attempting to free some of its members being held there.

Last week Boko Haram said it was behind a similar attack on a prison in Kogi State in which more than 100 prisoners were freed.

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

Six people were shot and killed by Boko Haram at a church in Gombe in January.

Boko Haram wants to impose Sharia law across Nigeria. Its name means "Western education is forbidden" in the Hausa language.