Suspected members of an Islamist sect that launched an uprising last year attacked a prison in northern Nigeria on Tuesday, officials said, sparking a fierce gun battle with authorities.
Authorities in Bauchi said they repelled the attack, which followed a spate of recent shootings blamed on the sect. One resident said an unclear number of people were killed, adding it appeared prisoners escaped.
Officials said the attack was aimed at freeing jailed sect members.
“They shot dead a handful of policemen at the gate and forced their way in,” resident Isa Hassan told AFP by phone, saying he lived across from the prison. “From my house, I could see bodies and injured being loaded into a truck.”
He said the alleged sect members were chanting “Allahu Akbar” — or God is great — when they arrived.
Another resident said military and police were occasionally firing into the air as they locked the area down.
“There was heavy fighting between the attackers and the security forces which lasted for almost an hour. It was quite terrifying,” resident Usman Ahmad told AFP by phone.
Residents took cover to avoid being caught in the crossfire and to keep from being mistaken for one of the sect members, he said.
“The army and police personnel have been deployed in large numbers and have taken control of the area around the prison,” Ahmad said.
“But for sporadic shooting in the air by the army and the police, it’s calm. Fighting has stopped.”
Bauchi state police commissioner Danlami Yar’Adua and an adviser to the state governor confirmed the attack, with both saying the situation had been brought under control.
Neither said whether anyone was killed or if prisoners had escaped. It was also unclear how many alleged sect members were involved.
“The Bauchi central prison was attacked this evening by people believed to be members of Boko Haram in an attempt to free their comrades,” Bauchi state police commissioner Danlami Yar’Adua said, referring to the name of the sect.
“They arrived at the prison and began shooting sporadically to gain access, but we deployed our anti-riot policemen, who engaged them and contained the situation.”
Police have been among the victims of the recent deadly shootings in northern Nigeria blamed on members of the sect. At least nine people have been killed by motorcycle-riding gunmen.
Last year’s uprising by Boko Haram, also known as the Nigerian Taliban, began with attacks on police posts.
It was crushed by a police and military assault, with hundreds eventually killed and the sect’s headquarters and mosque left in ruins.
Its leader, Mohammed Yusuf, was captured alive and then killed on July 30 last year by police, who said he was trying to escape.
Police also insist that Yusuf’s deputy, Abubakar Shekau, was killed last year, though he recently appeared on video issuing new threats. Police say the clips are digital mock-ups.
At the time of the one-year anniversary of the uprising in July, authorities in Maiduguri, where the sect was based, insisted there was no threat of attacks, but security was tightened and intelligence agents blanketed the city.
The recent shootings had signaled the sect may be preparing to strike again in Africa’s most populous nation.
Most of the shootings occurred in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, where authorities earlier Tuesday banned the use of motorcycles at night in a bid to stop the violence.
Tuesday’s attack comes just before the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan and ahead of January presidential elections.
Boko Haram, which means “Western education is sin” in local Hausa dialect, had fought for the creation of an Islamic state in Nigeria, whose 150 million population is divided roughly in half between Christians and Muslims.
Nigeria’s north is mainly Muslim, while the south is predominately Christian.
The vast majority of Muslims in the country reject the sect’s hardline ideology, and many observers say the group grew out of frustration with Nigeria’s widespread corruption, poverty and lack of opportunities for youths.